“Ruben Amorim is a coach with passion for what he does and he transmits that on to his players. He makes his players aggressive and intelligent, a bit like Jose Mourinho.”
Portuguese football expert Sebastiao Sousa Pinto has exclusively told The Manchester Evening News, sharing a fresh insight into the Portuguese manager who will begin his tenure at Old Trafford on Monday. Amorim will arrive in Manchester after four-and-a-half years at Sporting Clube de Portugal.
He will then oversee his first game in charge of United at Ipswich Town on November 24 (4:30pm kick-off). There is certainly some curiosity among fans to see how his style of play and system will fit into the current squad.
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“He likes to play a very offensive football,” Pinto told the MEN. “The wingers play deeper which promotes offensive football. For example, Nuno Santos who plays as a left-back, was a winger before playing under Ruben Amorim.
“An interesting fact is that he plays with the opposite foot, his left, to look for more interior plays and that provides an interesting balance. It’s true that Portuguese football is not the same or as competitive as the Premier League and here, the smaller teams defend 90% of the game against the bigger teams – one of them Sporting, and Amorim knows he can try these variants.”
There have also been question marks over the future of some players who have either struggled to show their potential or have fallen below the standards. Joshua Zirkzee, a signing requested by former United manager Erik ten Hag, has failed to cement a regular spot in the team, making just four starts so far.
However, Pinto has drawn comparisons of the Dutch star to Sporting’s Viktor Gyokeres, suggesting he could be handed more minutes under the new manager. “Zirkzee seems to be similar to Gyokeres due to his physical stature and their characteristics are not very different which would benefit the style of play Amorim likes to play in. Diallo, Matthijs de Ligt and perhaps Harry Maguire, are also players that can do well under him.”
A reunion is also on the cards for Amorim and Manuel Ugarte, who played two seasons at the Jose Alvalade Stadium before a move to Paris Saint-Germain. “Manuel Ugarte would be one of those players to jump directly into the starting team. He was the one that took Joao Palhinha’s place at Sporting and later was a standout player at Fulham,” Pinto stated while also predicting Bruno Fernandes to thrive under Amorim.
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“Fernandes, I believe that he would be a kind of Pedro Goncalves, a creative man who came to Sporting as a midfielder but now stands out as a winger and is one of the key players for the team.”
With that said, Amorim will eventually want to put his own stamp in the squad with new signings though Pinto believes that he will maintain United’s current style of play for the time being before implementing his own. “I don’t believe that he would change it straight away,” he continued.
“Given the season has already started, it would take time for players to adapt and perhaps would require one or two signings in January to implement that, this season.”
Amorim will be in charge of his final game for Sporting when they face Braga on the road on Sunday evening. He will leave the Lions with five titles: two Liga Portugal, two League Cups and one Super Cup.
He will remain as the man who brought Sporting’s identity back after the club was unable to compete on any front for almost 20 years. Sporting were the only club who put all their trust into the 39-year-old when he was at the start of his coaching career – paying Braga his €10million release clause in 2020.
He repaid that trust by guiding the Lions to their first title in almost two decades. “He has always conveyed confidence during a time when a lot of pressure was put on him after Sporting paid his release clause to Braga,” Pinto stated.
“They asked him what would happen if everything went wrong and his reply was: ‘but what if it goes well?’ That was a popular phase of his for months. They hadn’t been champions for almost 20 years and what is certain is that in five seasons (counting this one), they are on their way to winning a third league title.
“He completely changed Sporting’s image and gave a breath of fresh air to Portuguese football. So I think [the big jump to English football] is deserved. For what he’s done and the potential he has, for the coach he is.
“It’s an opportunity that comes on his own merit. His charisma can make the difference and everyone will need to be in the same boat, including the fans.”
