Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd move sees his wife become rivals with her best friend, business partner and fellow Wag
THEY were the dream partnership at Sporting.
Hugo Viana, as sporting director, sold on the likes of Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Porro, Joao Palhinha and Manuel Ugarte for huge profits.
While in came Viktor Gyokeres, Morten Hjulmand, Pedro Goncalves and Francisco Trincao – who could fetch huge fees thanks to their development under the club’s boss, Ruben Amorim.
Working as well as they did attracted the Premier League’s big hitters.
Viana will join Man City, where he will replace the departing Txiki Begiristain at the Etihad next season.
Intriguingly, Amorim now comes in as Man Utd boss and will rival his old pal at club level.
But, it’s not just those two that’ll feel a divide in Manchester.
Incredibly, the pair’s wives are best friends and run a business together.
Amorim’s relationship with Viana began when they played together.
Former team-mates
The two were team-mates at Braga during the 2012-13 season.
Amorim and former Newcastle midfielder Viana also share ties to lower-league side Belenenses FC.
It’s where the incoming Red Devils manager cut his teeth as a player, while Viana took his first steps as a director at the Lisbon club in 2017.
It was Viana who contributed towards Amorim’s rise at Sporting.
Back in 2020, he was already two years into his role at Sporting when he hired Amorim as head coach.
Viana was impressed by his pal’s single season at Braga – leading the club to a third placed finish in the league, as well as a domestic cup win.
“I think one of the best things that Viana did was to bring the people that he trusts like Amorim,” Viana’s former team-mate Helder Barbosa told The Guardian.
“He’s a young coach and the people start talking a lot about the money they spend but right now everybody talks that he was not a cheap coach but probably he’s the best coach in Portugal right now and he’s young, so they are closer than ever before.”
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Success
Viana and Amorim formed a unique partnership at Sporting, where they helped the club win two league titles in four seasons.
That success came through savvy recruitment.
Amorim groomed players like Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Porro, Joao Palhinha and Manuel Ugarte.
Those stars would earn big-money moves abroad – boosting the club’s coffers.
Fernandes signed for Man Utd for a staggering £68million, while Pedro Porro cost Spurs £40million, Joao Palhinha fetched £20million, and Manuel Ugarte joined PSG for north of £50m, a similar fee to the one he joined the Red Devils for this summer.
Big money for a club like Sporting, who spent it wisely thanks to Viana.
The likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Morten Hjulmand, Pedro Goncalves and Francisco Trincao all came in, and under the guidance of Amorim their values have now risen to well beyond what was paid for them.
That is especially relevant in the case of Swedish goalscoring machine Gyokeres, who was signed for around £17million – but looks likely to move on for £70million plus.
Wives
It’s not just Amorim and Viana who have a successful working relationship.
Amorim is married to Maria João Diogo and the pair have a son.
Maria has built her own business in interior design with a degree in telecommunications engineering.
The couple got married in 2013 in front of 160 guests at a beautiful ceremony at the Palácio de S. Marcos church in Coimbra.
Present for the nuptials were Viana and his missus, Raquel Gomes, who got hitched some ten years earlier.
Maria and Raquel are also best friends, who run an interior design business together called Dois Tons.
They aim to “create spaces with a unique identity” through their use of “color palette, textures and which are an extension of their history”.
Their Instagram page shows off some of their creations, and has around 7,000 followers.
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.
Amorim and Viana leave Sporting with their heads held high and for pastures new.
One will be red, one will be blue. But how will their wives get on once they become noisy neightbours…?
Let the rivalry begin.