‘The players will not be offended’ – Amorim explains advantage he has ahead of Manchester United job

Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim doesn’t have to wait long before he starts work at Manchester United as head coach.

The Portuguese coach has revealed that he is already speaking English in training at Sporting, which should make the transition to life at United much easier.

Amorim spoke to the media on Monday afternoon to look ahead of Tuesday night’s Champions League clash with Man City in Lisbon.

Amorim, as expected, was quizzed on a wide range of topics, including his move to Manchester United

The 39-year-old made a point of answering every question in his native Portuguese, refusing to speak in English when challenged by one reporter. He joked that his comments would be missed in Portugal.

“I cannot speak in English now,” Amorim said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News. “They will miss me in Portugal.”

Indeed they will. One Sporting fan reacted to the news of Amorim’s departure by crying on national TV.

Amorim revealed he is already giving training sessions in English.

He added that his English isn’t the best, but he will learn more over the next three months to strength his grasp of the language.

“My communication at the beginning will be simpler because it is in English. I think I will have to spend three months… they say that is enough. The players will not be offended if I say that they are more basic, I give training sessions here in English.”

The Sporting boss answered one question on United talks, saying: “In the meeting where I said I wanted to leave, [Federico] Varandas [Sporting president] said I could renew and that if I changed my mind, we could talk…”

There isn’t any sign of Amorim changing his mind. The contracts have been signed and he will start work at Carrington on November 11 when most of hs squad will be away on international duty.

He also denied being close to joining West Ham, which has been used as a way to criticise him after deciding to join United. Some sections of the media suggested Amorim had been snubbed by the Hammers but that was not the case.

“I went to England… I didn’t go to negotiate, I went to meet the owner. I had made my decision. If you think I already wanted to leave last year, there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Ruben Amorim takes on Pep Guardiola’s Man City

Man City are at risk of suffering three defeats on the bounce for the first time since 2017/18, and they face a Sporting side that have gone unbeaten in the their first 10 league matches.

The headlines before the game will focus on how the new head coach of United is facing Guardiola, after being linked as a potential successor to the City manager.

“If we win tomorrow, people will think that the new Alex Ferguson has arrived!” 🏆

Ruben Amorim isn’t paying attention to the extra eyes from Manchester United fans on Sporting’s match tomorrow against Manchester City 👀 pic.twitter.com/FRN5UonbU4

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 4, 2024

Excluding penalty shootouts, City have gone 26 games without a normal time or extra-time defeat in the Champions League. It may be one of the most pointless statistics in the competition’s history but it would take a major upset for Amorim to come out on top on Tuesday night.

Fingers crossed nonetheless.