Jose Mourinho is backing Manchester United’s potential swoop for Ruben Amorim, dubbing him the “best manager in Portugal”.
Amorim looks set to be the next United boss, with a deal reportedly agreed between the Red Devils and Sporting Lisbon. United have had to fork out €10million for his services, with an agreement now hinging on his backroom staff.
Amorim, only 39 but already turning heads with his football brain, had headed over to United’s Carrington HQ for some managerial training when Mourinho was at the helm in April 2018, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The Fenerbahce chief recalls Amorim as a “good kid” who was beefing up his coaching creds with a Uni of Lisbon postgrad, while Mourinho himself played teacher there. Under Amorim’s sharp eye, Sporting are flying in the Primeira Liga, sitting pretty at the top of the league.
Mourinho, however, reckons that Amorim isn’t just about full-throttle play; he tactically juggles a robust 5-4-1 when off the ball and knows exactly how to give his strikers and wings that winning edge, terming his style as “always intense”.
If Amorim signs on the dotted line, he’ll be marching in as United’s second gaffer from Portugal after Mourinho, who’s still remembered for bagging them a couple of shiny trophies and writing himself into the club’s history books as the ace boss since the legendary Fergie times.
“I wish the best to Man United since the moment I left,” Mourinho remarked before Fenerbahce’s Europa League clash with United ended in a 1-1 draw last week. “I left with a good feeling to the club, with a good feeling to the fans and I want the best for them.
“So if things are not going amazingly well for them it’s not something that makes me happy. But at the same time I have no time and it doesn’t make sense for me to be thinking about what happened, what didn’t happen.
“What happened for sure, because it’s very objective, is that they keep faith in the coach (Erik ten Hag), they support the coach, the coach is staying season after season and that means stability, it means trust and they are giving him conditions to keep developing his job, that was a difference in relation to me.”
“Because, as you know, we won Europa League, we finished second in the Premier League, I think we still have a chance to win that league because if they punish Man City with points maybe we win that league and then they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal!”