Following Sporting Lisbon’s Europa League victory over Arsenal last season, Ruben Amorim stated: “The new Mourinho? There will never be a new Mourinho.” As a new era begins at Old Trafford, Amorim will hope to follow a different path to his Portuguese predecessor and bring success back to Manchester United.
Amorim has made no attempt to hide his admiration for Mourinho, a man he says he “idolised” as he made his first steps into management at Portuguese Third-Tier side Casa Pia in 2018. That spell ended after just four games, when Amorim was suspended from all football activity for a year after giving instructions during a match without having the required coaching level to do so.
Less than six years later, Amorim has assembled a trophy cabinet that includes 2 Portuguese Primeira Liga titles and 3 League Cup titles with Braga and Sporting Lisbon.
He became the most sought-after manager in Europe and now has one of the biggest jobs in world football.
A very Mourinho-style rise then, who had won the Champions League with Porto and subsequently taken the Chelsea job just four years after beginning his managerial career at Benfica.
Unlike his idol, Amorim has found success with an intense 3-4-3 formation, characterised by a ruthless high press and possession football.
He has got the best out of inconsistent Premier League players like Spurs’ Pedro Porro and Manchester City’s Matheus Nunes. Former Championship top scorer Victor Gyokeres already has 18 goals and 7 assists this season. Manuel Ugarte played his best football under Amorim, and Manchester United fans will hope that Amorim can work his magic on the 23-year-old once again.
The Ruben Amorim era begins away at Ipswich on Saturday. By which time, Amorim will have had almost two weeks to implement his ideas on to his new players.
There will be pressure to hit the ground running against an Ipswich team who finally got their first victory of the season against Spurs before the international break.
Similarly to Caretaker boss Rudd Van Nistelrooy, the fixture list has been relatively kind to Amorim. After Ipswich, Manchester United welcome Bodo/Glimt to Old Trafford in the Europa League, followed by the visit of Everton on December 1st. The first big test comes at the Emirates on December 4th.
Mourinho won his first four league matches, the best start of any post-war manager. If Ruben Amorim can follow in his idols’ footsteps with his promised brand of exciting football, then perhaps there are reasons to be optimistic on the red side of Manchester.
