Man Utd news LIVE: Ruben Amorim officially announced as new manager with club statement

Jamie Carragher says that new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim can handle the step up to the Premier League and backed him to continue his progress.

He told Sky Sports News: “He’s a young manager, so it’s a huge job for him.. I don’t think he’s moved out of Lisbon too much, so even off the field it will be a big change.

“We talk about managers having not managed a big club but every manager starts somewhere. It’s a journey to get to the top.

“Sir Alex Ferguson had to make that jump from Aberdeen and had great success. It was a completely different stratosphere to Man Utd and that will be the same for Amorim.

“But that’s the journey managers take. They all have to make this jump. He will have to come up against that. Going up against Porto and Benfica will stand him in good stead because there’s huge competition in the Premier League now, with some of the best managers in the world.

“But Amorim has made huge progress already in his managerial career and he will want that to continue.”

Amorim took charge of Sporting CP in March 2020, as a 35-year-old coach with only two months’ experience managing in the Portuguese top flight. He inherited a giant club without a league title in 18 years, in disarray on and off the field after the exits of key players Raphinha, Bas Dost and Bruno Fernandes – ironically now set to be his captain at Old Trafford.

Southampton boss Russell Martin was asked for his thoughts on Ruben Amorim’s appointment and believes it will be a ‘good one’ if Man Utd’s technical director Jason Wilcox was involved.

Wilcox was a previous director of football at Southampton.

Martin said: “If Jason Wilcox has had anything to do with the appointment it will be a good one. He’s a brilliant coach, I’ve watched a lot of his team and they are brilliant. I admire the way his team plays. He’ll do a brilliant job at Manchester United.”

Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United are hiring the “best coach in Portugal”.

That’s according to the Manchester Evening News, which recalls how Amorim visited United’s Carrington training complex when Mourinho was manager in April 2018 for an internship. Amorim had started a postgraduate degree at the University of Lisbon and Mourinho was a coordinator and lecturer on its high performance coaching course.

Amorim, Mourinho remembers, was a “good kid” who sticks to his preferred style of play whatever the opposition, and who is “always intense”.

More from Jamie Carragher who says that Ruben Amorim’s personality and charisma will play a big role in his time at Man Utd and help separate his era from Erik ten Hag’s.

Carragher told Sky Sports News: “I think most coaches in the Premier League, and certainly the ones at the top clubs, are top-quality coaches. That’s why they get those roles. Where I felt Erik ten Hag faltered was maybe with his personality, his man-management, his charisma.

“He didn’t feel like he owned the room when he was in there when he was speaking to the press. I don’t know how it was with the players but Mourinho is someone who walks into a room and he has just got that aura about him.

“Jurgen Klopp, Sir Alex Ferguson, all these great managers who have won Premier League titles and European Cups have had that.

“With Amorim, there’s no doubt he is a quality coach. We’ve seen that with his record. He plays a slightly different system than we have seen from Manchester United’s previous managers, but he’s got to feel and look like a manager in control and that was sorely lacking over the last few years at Manchester United.”

Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher stopped by the television studio to speak about Ruben Amorim’s appointment and said:

“Amorim has had huge success in Portugal. People might sometimes look at the Portuguese league or Dutch league and say they are not at the level of the Premier League.

“But you can only manage the league that you are in and to do what he has done, winning two titles in four or five years, is outstanding. Even though they are one of the biggest clubs in Portugal, Sporting are not Porto or Benfica. It had been a long time since they had won it.

“So, he has got very good pedigree and he will be hoping to take that type of performance, and the trophies, into his job at Manchester United.”

Manchester United right-back spoke to Sky Sports about the appointment of Ruben Amorim and called him a ‘fantastic coach’ and says he could be a ‘perfect match’ for the club.

He said: “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. He has high standards and I hope it can be a good match. I hope we can win together.

“The Premier League suits people from Portugal. We have a culture of constantly trying to improve ourselves as we come from a small country.

“I really hope that it is one more case. I am really excited to start working with him.”

Former Manchester United captain and current football pundit Rio Ferdinand gave his thoughts on the appointment of Ruben Amorim.

Speaking on Rio Ferdinand presents, he said: “If Pep Guardiola had gone, I think that [Ruben] Amorim would have been someone that Manchester City were looking at. There are similarities to what Erik ten Hag was doing at Ajax but what I would say is that Amorim took a club that was on a barren spell.

“[Sporting] couldn’t compete with Porto or Benfica, hadn’t got near to winning the league – disenchanted fanbase, turmoil behind the scenes. He went in there and immediately turned their fortunes around. He changed their style of football, style of play, and expectations.

“I think the biggest difference between the two (Amorim and Ten Hag), from what I am hearing from people who have played for them but also been around, is the character and charisma compared to Erik ten Hag will be the big difference. United need someone with the character and charisma to go ‘you know what, I don’t care what has happened here, I see a player in you’. You need someone who is going to be like that.

“This is a man who built Manuel Ugarte, who has come to Manchester United. He built a £60m player. He changed the landscape for a football club. That is not easy to do. I don’t care what league you are in.

“I spoke to Nani the other day and he said ‘Rio, the players play for him, love him and they respect him’. He said Amorim is very straight and direct. Maybe there were inconsistencies in the way Ten Hag disciplined. You have to have clear lines when you approach these topics and players.”

“The first goal was an unbelievable, top goal – fantastic finish,” Van Nistelrooy told MUTV.

“I’m delighted for him that the first goal went in. I was delighted for Case, the way he’s been training and helping the team and the club, he’s such an example. You also see the crowd’s reaction and they also know what he’s about.

“Of course, going through difficult moments, the Liverpool game, he got a lot of criticism. It was so hard, he was almost the one to blame for that game and it’s not fair, he didn’t deserve that, it was not true. “If you see him in training and the way he prepares for games, with the history and all he has achieved with five Champions Leagues, he’s an example for us. That was part of my celebration, I’m happy for him.”

Manchester United have hired a winner in Ruben Amorim who already has five trophies to his name as a manager. Here’s a look as what he’s won so far:

Taca de Liga – Braga (2019-20)

Primeira Liga – Sporting (2020-21, 2023-24)

Taca de Liga – Sporting (2020-21, 2021-22)

Supertaca Candido de Oliveira – Sporting (2021)

Will he add some English titles to his list this season? United are already through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals so he has a good chance.