Manchester United have officially confirmed the appointment of Ruben Amorim as their new manager.
Club legend Ruud van Nistelrooy had been placed in interim charge of first-team affairs following Erik ten Hag’s dismissal at the start of the week, but, after days of fervent speculation and delays, Amorim has now been appointed on a long-term contract that runs until the summer of 2027 with the club possessing the option to extend it by a further year.
Amorim’s notice period at current club Sporting Lisbon means that he will not officially take over at Old Trafford until November 11, subject to work visa requirements, a day after the visit of Leicester, meaning his first game in charge will come after the next international break away against struggling Ipswich at Portman Road on November 24.
Amorim’s first home game at the helm of United is set to be against Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League four days later, before Everton visit Old Trafford in the top-flight on December 1 ahead of a huge clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
It's done.
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 1, 2024
Bem-vindo ao Manchester United, Ruben Amorim 🇵🇹🤝🔴#MUFC
The 39-year-old joined Sporting from Portuguese rivals Braga in March 2020 and won two Primeira Liga titles in Lisbon, which included ending their 19-year wait for the crown in 2020/21.
Former Benfica and Portugal midfielder Amorim had been strongly linked with various Premier League jobs over recent years including Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and West Ham, but ultimately stayed with Sporting until United came calling.
Sporting confirmed earlier this week that the Manchester giants had made an official approach for their manager and were willing to pay his €10million (£8.3m) buyout clause, with assistants Adelio Candido and Carlos Fernandes, first-team coach Emanuel Ferro, goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital and sports scientist Paulo Barreira all expected to follow Amorim to England.
Amorim becomes United’s sixth full-time manager since the retirement of the iconic Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013 and his first job will be to improve on a dreadful start to the season which sees the club currently languishing in 14th place in the Premier League and winless in the new-look Europa League, resulting in Ten Hag’s sacking after two-and-half years in charge less than four months after a summer saga over his position resulted in him being handed a contract extension.
United - who won the FA Cup under Ten Hag last season but also slumped to their lowest finish of the Premier League era (eighth) - did manage to thrash Leicester 5-2 in their first match under legendary striker Van Nistelrooy - appointed as Ten Hag’s new assistant in the summer - in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup in midweek, booking a quarter-final trip to Tottenham in the process.
Van Nistelrooy will remain in temporary charge of United until Amorim arrives later this month, meaning he has three more games in the hotseat starting against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Sunday. Greek side PAOK are the visitors in the Europa League next week before United then meet Leicester again in the Premier League.
Amorim took charge of Sporting against Nacional in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese League Cup on Tuesday night, was given a warm ovation by fans and has fielded questions all week from journalists in packed press conferences, promising that his situation would be fully resolved and clarified after Friday evening’s home Primeira Liga meeting with Estrela de Amadora at the Estadio Jose Alvalade.
Sporting also host Manchester City in the Champions League next week before travelling to face Amorim’s old club Braga on November 10, a day before his official United start date.
Sporting also released a statement to confirm the deal for Amorim, revealing they had been paid €11m by United and were also set to receive an additional €1,658,000 in compensation, bringing the total to €12,658,000 (£10.6m).
