Manchester United have confirmed the appointment of Ruben Amorim from Sporting Lisbon as their new head coach, with the Portuguese due to officially start at Old Trafford on November 11.
The 20-time English champions sacked Erik ten Hag on Monday morning, less than 24 hours after the 2-1 defeat at West Ham United in the Premier League, and Ruud van Nistelrooy was immediately placed in charge on a temporary basis.
Van Nistelrooy led the Red Devils to a 5-2 success over Leicester City in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night, with the team progressing to the quarter-finals of the competition.
Amorim quickly emerged as the favourite to replace Ten Hag on a permanent basis, though, and his move to Old Trafford has now been confirmed, with the Portuguese signing a contract until June 2027, with a club option of an additional year.
The 39-year-old will not officially begin work at Old Trafford until November 11, meaning that he will take charge of Sporting’s next three matches against Estrela, Manchester City and Braga.
Van Nistelrooy, meanwhile, will remain in charge of the 20-time English champions on an interim basis, with the Dutchman set to lead the team for their next three games against Chelsea, PAOK and Leicester.
“Manchester United is delighted to announce the appointment of Ruben Amorim as Head Coach of the men’s first team, subject to work visa requirements,” read a statement on the club’s official website.
“He will join until June 2027 with a club option of an additional year, once he has fulfilled his obligations to his current club. He will join Manchester United on Monday 11 November.
“Ruben is one of the most exciting and highly rated young coaches in European football. Highly decorated as both a player and coach, his titles include winning the Primeira Liga twice in Portugal with Sporting CP; the first of which was the club’s first title in 19 years. Ruud van Nistelrooy will continue to take charge of the team until Ruben joins.”
Amorim’s first game in charge of Man United is set to be their trip to Ipswich Town on November 24.
Amorim has been in charge of Sporting since 2020, boasting a record of 161 wins, 34 draws and 33 defeats from his 228 matches at the helm, while he has guided the Green and Whites to five trophies.
The highly-rated manager has won two Primeira Liga titles, two Taca da Liga trophies and one Supertaca Candido de Oliveira.
Sporting’s 2020-21 triumph in Portugal’s top flight brought their first title win since 2001-02, while he had huge success as a player during his time at Benfica, winning 10 trophies, including three Primeira Liga trophies.
The Lisbon giants have also been in excellent form in the early stages of this season, sitting top of the Primeira Liga table on 27 points, winning all nine of their matches, scoring 30 times and conceding just twice.
Sporting have picked up seven points from their three Champions League matches, meanwhile, which has left them eighth in the Champions League table, just ahead of Arsenal, Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid.
Amorim also guided Braga to the 2019-20 Taca da Liga title in another notable achievement in his coaching career.
Amorim’s release clause of €10m (£8.3m) has been activated by Man United, while according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, the club will pay a further €1m (£840,000) for his staff, and to erase the 30-day notice period that had been present in his contract.
Coaches Carlos Fernandes, Adelio Candido and Jorge Vital are set to follow Amorim to Old Trafford, in addition to sports scientists Paulo Barreira and Emanuel Ferro, although there has been no confirmation of their moves at this moment in time.
Van Nistelrooy, who is preparing the team for Sunday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea, has expressed a desire to remain at Man United once his period as interim head coach comes to an end, but a final decision on the Dutchman has allegedly not yet been made.
