‘Ruben Amorim feels like Erik ten Hag all over again – Man Utd missed out on the perfect coach who’s done it already’
PAUL SCHOLES is not convinced Ruben Amorim is perfect for Manchester United – and claims the club missed out on a better target.
The Red Devils are searching for a new manager after sacking Erik ten Hag on Monday.
United have agreed to pay Amorim’s £8.3million release fee with Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon.
But Scholes believes the board should have acted sooner to secure the services of new England boss Thomas Tuchel.
He told The Overlap Fan Debate: “I think Thomas Tuchel was the right one to coach Manchester United, but obviously he’s gone now with England.
“He’s someone that can manage an elite football club and win big games. He’s been there and done it.”
Amorim has twice won the Portuguese Primeira Liga with Sporting.
He boasts an impressive 71.85 win percentage since joining the club in March 2020.
But Scholes can’t help but feel there are comparisons with Ten Hag after he arrived from Ajax two years ago with similarly impressive numbers.
Scholes continued: “I agree on Ruben Amorim – [the hype] feels a bit like Erik ten Hag [joined Manchester United].
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“He’s coming from the Portuguese league which is a bit better than the Dutch league.
“What he’s done there has been good – he looks charismatic, and he has a bit about him.
“I know he’s meant to sign in the coming days and hours, but Sporting play Manchester City next week, and Arsenal in the next three or four weeks.
“It might be a chance to give him a public interview, and see how he handles the media, see how his team plays.”
Despite his reservations, Scholes is excited to see Amorim’s potential impact on a shot-shy United team.
The Red Devils have scored just 8 goals in 9 Premier League games this season, the third-lowest in the division.
Ruben Amorim is ‘Mourinho 2.0’ who turned Sporting from ‘walking dead’ into Portuguese champs… he can revive Man Utd
WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies.
Optimism and hope was at an all-time low.
But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals.
Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term.
He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers.
The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival.
And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford.
Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up.
Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”.
United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won’t be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.”
And yet, you cannot help but compare the two.
For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
He continued “In England, we don’t watch a lot of Portuguese football, so we don’t know too much.
“We see them a bit in European football, and all the things we hear about him are good – exciting football, three at the back and possession-based – something United don’t really do.
“If he comes in to do that, it could be exciting.”
Paul Scholes was speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate, brought to you by Sky Bet.