LONDON: Ruben Amorim was on Friday named as the new manager of Manchester United, replacing the sacked Erik ten Hag.

The 39-year-old Portuguese coach, who won two Primeira Liga titles with Sporting Lisbon, has signed a deal until 2027 and will join the club on November 11.

“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,” the club said on its 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.”

United described Amorim as “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,” the club statement said.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will continue to take charge of the team until Amorim arrives at Old Trafford.

Amorim will oversee the Portuguese champions’ three remaining matches before the international break, starting with a game against Estrela on Friday.

Sporting host Manchester City in the Champions League next Tuesday and Amorim’s final game in charge is set to be against former club Braga in the league on Nov 10.

His first game in charge of United will be away at struggling Ipswich on Nov 24.

Sporting issued a statement saying they had “reached an agreement with Manchester United” regarding the terms of Amorim’s departure, under which United will pay 11 million euros ($12 million).

United sacked Ten Hag on Monday after a 2-1 defeat by West Ham United left them languishing 14th in the Premier League, with just three wins from nine matches.

Amorim quickly emerged as the club’s top target and Sporting issued a statement to the Lisbon stock exchange earlier this week confirming United were willing to meet his release clause.

Amorim, a former Portugal midfielder, started his managerial career with then third-tier Casa Pia in 2018 before a switch to Braga.

Sporting swooped in 2020 and he won the club’s first league title in 19 years in his first full season in charge, repeating the feat last season.

CHELSEA POSE TOUGH TEST FOR NISTELROOY

But before the arrival of Amorim, United’s interim manager Nistelrooy has a tough task ahead as the Red Devils host Chelsea on Sunday in the Premier League.

Nistelrooy led United to an entertaining 5-2 victory over struggling Leicester City in the League Cup on Wednesday, but Chelsea are a different beast.

Under new manager Enzo Maresca, a young squad have given the Stamford Bridge faithful a glimmer of hope that the London club can return to the Champions League.

Led by the imperious Cole Palmer, who has seven league goals and five assists this season, they sit fifth in the table.

They will also be desperate to improve their woeful record against United — who have lost to Chelsea only once in the last 13 Premier League games.

Such is Maresca’s attention to detail that the Italian is redoing his homework and analysing Nistelrooy’s managerial stint at PSV Eindhoven where he led the Eredivise club to a Dutch Cup title.

“Ruud’s a friend of mine, we played together, we spent a year together at Malaga and we still have a relationship,” Maresca said. “We started to watch some PSV games. We’d already watched many United games. Hopefully I can see him Sunday.”

Chelsea are also looking to return to winning ways after Newcastle United took revenge for last weekend’s loss by dumping them out of the League Cup on Wednesday, a game where Palmer was rested.

Newcastle, though, had a lean run in the Premier League so far. They are floundering in 12th place and next host in-form Arsenal.

Arsenal’s title chase hit a couple of speed bumps against Bournemouth and Liverpool to leave them five points adrift of the top.

While Mikel Arteta will be glad to have William Saliba back from suspension, question marks over the fitness of other defenders remain — including his centre back partner Gabriel Magalhaes — while skipper Martin Odegaard, the fulcrum of their attack, remains sidelined.

Meanwhile, Champions City have a one-point lead and they visit Bourn­emouth, but Pep Guardiola now has nine players on the injury list after their League Cup loss at Tottenham Hotspur.

“I think we are in trouble, because in nine years we’ve never been in the situation with so many injuries,” Guardiola said.

Liverpool, who drew at Arsenal last weekend, have another stern test against Brighton & Hove Albion who have impressed under Fabian Huerzeler. It will also be a rematch of their League Cup encounter where Liverpool, second, came out 3-2 winners.

Unai Emery’s high-flying Aston Villa travel to London to face Spurs who have blown hot and cold this season to sit eighth.

They will hope skipper Son Heung-min is fit again after he missed the 1-0 loss at Crystal Palace.

The bottom three of Ipswich Town, Wolve­rhampton Wanderers and Southampton will be looking to register their first wins of the season when they play Leicester, Palace and Everton, respectively.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2024