Manchester United’s new head coach Ruben Amorim has the “character and charisma” that predecessor Erik ten Hag lacked, according to the club’s former defender Rio Ferdinand.
United confirmed Sporting boss Amorim, 39, has signed a contract until June 2027 with the Premier League club and will officially start in the role on November 11.
The Portuguese was United’s top target and the only candidate they spoke to after sacking ten Hag on Monday.
In a video post on X, former England centre-half Ferdinand said: “I spoke to (former Manchester United and Sporting winger) Nani the other day and he said whatever you want to talk about, tactics or whatever, the players play for him, they love him and they respect him.
“One of the issues I think with Erik ten Hag…….and what Nani said about Amorim, is that he’s very straight and very direct.
“I’m talking to people who played for him, I think the character and the charisma compared to ten Hag will be the big difference.”
Current United defender Diogo Dalot described Amorim as “a fantastic coach” and said Portuguese coaches had a habit of being successful in the Premier League.
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Dalot told Sky Sports: “He is a fantastic coach and knows what he wants. Very demanding is what I can expect. It’s a perfect match for a club like this.
“The Premier League suits people from Portugal. We have a culture of constantly trying to improve ourselves as we come from a small country.
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“I really hope that it is one more case. I am really excited to start working with him.”
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola welcomed the entrance of his new cross-town rival with the declaration: “Welcome to United, to England. I congratulate him.”
Guardiola will actually come up against Amorim next week when he takes his City side to Lisbon to face Sporting in the Champions League.
At age 39, Amorim will be the youngest United manager since the 1960s and the sixth permanent manager since the retirement of serial winner Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Amorim will take charge after completing his commitments to Sporting, and has signed a contract until June 2027, with United having an option of an additional year.
“Ruben is one of the most exciting and highly rated young coaches in European football,” United declared on Friday.
The record 20-time English champions haven’t won the Premier League since Ferguson’s final season in charge.
Amorim’s task will be to revive the glories of a club that has fallen way behind the best in England and Europe — something which has proved beyond the likes of Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and most recently Erik ten Hag, who was fired on Monday.
United are 14th in the 20-team Premier League, having lost four of their first nine games.
Amorim, a former Portugal midfielder who spent the majority of his club career at Benfica, joins after United paid 10 million euros ($A17 million) to release him from his contract at Sporting, which he led to two Portuguese titles in four full seasons in charge.
He has only worked in Portugal and has no experience of managing some of the game’s top players under the constant glare of the world’s media.
Ruben Amorim. (Photo by Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images)
“He comes from a big club in Portugal,” United defender Diogo Dalot told British broadcaster Sky Sports, “but I always say it almost quadruples the amount of intensity, the amount of pressure (at United).”
Amorim ended Sporting’s 19-year title drought in the Portuguese league in 2021 to end the dominance of rivals Benfica and Porto, and won the League Cup that year, too, in his first season in charge.
Sporting also won the league last season and have won all nine of their league games in this campaign, bolstering Amorim’s status as a burgeoning coaching prospect. In his only other top-flight role, at Braga, he won the League Cup in a stint lasting less than a season.
Amorim will finish his time at Sporting with a game against Estrela da Amadora on Friday, at home to Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday and with a trip to Braga on November 10.
In the meantime, Ruud van Nistelrooy will stay in control of United, taking charge of three games before the international break.
Amorim’s first game with United will be away to Ipswich on Nov. 24.
He is taking charge of one of the world’s most storied clubs, who have been in decline for the past decade and are in a period of upheaval following the arrival of a new soccer-focused leadership team fronted by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe.
Ratcliffe will hope he has signed the latest coaching gem, with Amorim the youngest United manager since a 31-year-old Wilf McGuinness took charge in 1969.
The Premier League now has four managers in their 30s, with Amorim joining Brighton’s Fabian Hurzeler (31), Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna (38) and Southampton’s Russell Martin (38).
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