Cristiano Ronaldo’s nickname for Ruben Amorim will cease Man Utd followers in tracks

Sporting CP’s golden boy on his way to Manchester United – you might have seen this story before.

Bruno Fernandes pulled up trees in Lisbon before he jumped ship to Old Trafford, while Cristiano Ronaldo was still a precocious fleet-footed winger who charmed Sir Alex Ferguson in a friendly. And Ronaldo shares quite the close bond with Ruben Amorim, who looks to be the last to make the move.

According to Portuguese football expert Marcus Alves, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner even came up with an affectionate nickname for Amorim during their spell in the national team.

“On the pitch, he has always delivered. Not even the constant sales in the transfer market have proved to be a problem for him,” Alves told BBC Sport.

“Under Amorim, no player is irreplaceable and more important than the club. The Manchester United job may look like an impossible one right now, but so did Sporting’s when Amorim was unveiled as their head coach on March 5 2020.

“Eloquent and outgoing, Amorim is irresistible and dominates the words in such a way that Cristiano Ronaldo used to call him ‘poet’ in the national team.”

Amorim looks destined to be heading to the Red Devils, but there’s currently a hold-up.

Explaining the situation on Sky Sports News Kaveh Solhekol said: “He’s got this 30 day notice period in this contract. So Sporting are well within their rights to say ‘you’re not going anywhere, your contract says you have to give us 30 days notice’.

“What is happening at the moment is United are having talks with Sporting about paying extra compensation to ensure that he can move straight away.

“Now that compensation is not just to get him to United immediately, it’s also to compensate Sporting for the fact Amorim wants to bring three coaches with him. The compensation being talked about is around €5million, thats what Sporting want.”