Man Utd hold talks with Ruben Amorim to replace sacked Erik ten Hag

By Jason Burt and James Ducker

Manchester United are in talks to hire Ruben Amorim as their new head coach following the sacking of Erik ten Hag.

The Portuguese is not the only candidate under consideration but has emerged as the leading option and is keen on the move. Amorim has a €10 million [£8.3 million] release clause in his contract with Sporting Lisbon.

Amorim, who speaks perfect English, is one of Europe’s most sought-after young managers and has long been on United’s radar. Further talks have been held in recent weeks with more detailed negotiations now under way.

One source close to Amorim sounded a note of caution as discussions have taken place in the past with him without an agreement being reached. However, tellingly, he added there was more optimism about the move happening this time.

The talks are likely to involve Antero Henrique, the former Paris St-Germain and Porto sporting director – who was once linked to a similar role at United and is Amorim’s brother-in-law (Amorim is married to his sister, Maria).

Amorim also held talks last season to succeed David Moyes at West Ham United, later calling that meeting a “mistake”, and is understood to harbour higher ambitions. He was also discussed by Liverpool before they decided upon Arne Slot as Jurgen Klopp’s successor.

More recently there has been talk of him being on Manchester City’s shortlist should Pep Guardiola leave with Sporting’s Hugo Viana succeeding Txiki Begiristain as City’s director of football at the end of this season. However the indications are that Guardiola is likely to stay and sign a 12-month contract extension.

Last summer Amorim’s release clause was €15 million [£12.5 million] but it has since been reduced per the terms of his contract. Amorim is a highly confident coach who has, previously, been wedded to a 3-4-3 formation and it will be interesting to see if he sticks with that should he join United. Sources say he is unlikely to change.

United have also been considering the former Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic who is out of work having left the German club in the summer despite leading them to the Champions League final. He too speaks perfect English and has been approached.

At present though the strong favourite to take over is Amorim and despite concerns over United’s finances – and their need to remain compliant with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules – the clause to release the 39-year-old is not believed to be prohibitive. Even so Sporting’s compensation will come on top of a bill of around £13.5 million for sacking Ten Hag.

Amorim won the Portuguese Primeira Liga title in 2021 and again last season while also winning the Taca da Liga – the League Cup – on two occasions, with Sporting and also with his previous club, Braga. Sporting are again top of the Portuguese league, having won all nine of their games so far, and have forthcoming Champions League ties against Manchester City and Arsenal.

Amorim played a straight bat when asked about United’s interest at a news conference on Monday. “I was already expecting this question and obviously I’m not going to talk about the future, because otherwise I’ll always have to comment,” he said. “I’m very proud to be Sporting coach, that’s all.”

However it is understood the former midfielder, who earned 14 caps for his country and went to two World Cups, would be interested in taking over at United after Ten Hag was dismissed following a meeting with chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth at the Carrington training ground on Monday morning.

The meeting was described as respectful and dignified with Ten Hag unsurprised at the decision. He later left in the back of a black, chauffeur-driven Mercedes – ducking to try to avoid the cameras – as he headed to a private terminal at Manchester airport for a flight to Amsterdam.

United then confirmed the news in a statement on their official website with Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was appointed as one of Ten Hag’s assistants in July, named as interim head coach until a permanent replacement is found.

The United players are set to train with Van Nistelrooy and assistant Rene Hake on Tuesday before facing Leicester City in the last-16 of the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

The players had Monday off and found out about Ten Hag’s sacking through a message on their WhatsApp group at the same time as news of his dismissal was announced. United captain Bruno Fernandes tweeted his thanks although former goalkeeper David de Gea, forced out by Ten Hag, posted an emoji of what is often referred to as a disrespectful Italian hand gesture – two pinched fingers denoting a strong sense of disagreement and frustration.

United will hire a head coach, under their new structure, rather than a manager which was the title Ten Hag held and fiercely guarded in the summer. His dismissal comes just 116 days since United opted to extend his contract by 12 months after the club’s hierarchy decided against sacking him in the wake of a two-and-a-half-week internal review and conversations with at least six other managers.

Despite United finishing eighth in the Premier League the previous season, the Dutchman was effectively saved by winning the FA Cup with an impressive 2-1 victory over City.

‘We have put everything in place to develop and we are not seeing an improvement’

But United have endured a wretched start to the season with Sunday’s controversial 2-1 loss at West Ham United the club’s fourth defeat in just nine league games. It left United 14th with a negative goal difference.

United’s new Ineos-led executive had been keen to give Ten Hag a chance to work within a new sporting structure and backed the manager heavily in the transfer market with a £200 million outlay, taking spending under the Dutchman to more than £600 million during his two-and-a-half years in charge.

Yet sources indicated that neither results nor performances across last season and into this one had been good enough to justify continuing with Ten Hag and that there were “no excuses” for the current performance level.

It is understood that the decision was unanimous among the hierarchy and that, while they wanted to have continuity at a time of significant change for the club, they concluded that they were not seeing the momentum and progress to believe they were on the “right path” under Ten Hag.

A United source said: “We have put everything we can in place to develop and we are not seeing an improvement.”

United have taken just 40 points from 27 league matches this year and there was concern about again missing out on Champions League football if Ten Hag remained at the helm.

There was also alarm that United have failed to win any of their opening three Europa League games from winning positions.

United held talks with half a dozen managers towards the end of last season including Thomas Tuchel – who will be the new England manager – Roberto de Zerbi, Thomas Frank, Mauricio Pochettino, Kieran McKenna and Marco Silva.

More recently they are thought to have met with representatives of the former Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez.

Frank was under consideration again but is understood to be an outsider and while Ineos admire both Graham Potter and Gareth Southgate, neither were candidates this time round. Southgate, the former England manager, is genuine in his claim that he intends to take an extended break from football.