It was no great surprise that Manchester United decided that Erik ten Hag’s tenure as boss was over. The Dutch manager had seemingly been on the chopping block for at least eighteen months, and the side’s poor start to the season — they were fourteenth after nine games — meant that a change was inevitable.
So it’s so long ten Hag, hello Ruben Amorim, the man chosen to be next in the Old Trafford dugout. The Manchester United hierarchy were happy to get rid of ten Hag once they knew they could land Amorim — here’s exactly why they were so eager to do so.
Amorim: successful at Sporting CP
Rúben Amorim’s potential for success at Old Trafford is limitless. If the board can back him in the transfer market, then there’s every chance that the club will be competing for the Premier League title within a year or two. The evidence for that assertion lies in Amorim’s success at Sporting CP, where he not only won trophies but won them convincingly. The team won the league by 10 points last time around, and the xG models for the current season have them well ahead of Benfica, the team in second place. Amorim’s magic is likely to result in another league title for Sporting CP, even if the man responsible for the achievement has moved to Manchester.
There’s a vision
Erik ten Hag enjoyed some success at Old Trafford, but there were also a lot of low moments. In fact, some Manchester United fans who had been brought up while Alex Ferguson was in charge hadn’t realised that things could be so bad.
It wasn’t just the heavy defeats that cost Ten Hag his job. It was that it wasn’t clear to anyone — pundits, players, perhaps even ten Hag himself — what style of football Manchester United were trying to play. Fans can be patient if they know that the side is working towards something. That didn’t happen with Ten Hag.
But it will happen with Rúben Amorim, a football manager who has a strong sense of how he wants his team to play. His well-defined system is well-suited to the Premier League, so if he can get it to work, then there’s no doubt that Manchester United will be competitive.
He gets the best from his players
We don’t want to carry on attacking Erik ten Hag, but it was clear that he had a problematic relationship with many of his players. He found it difficult to get the best from them — in fact, found it difficult to get anything from them.
In his relatively young managerial career, Amorim has shown that he can work with players and make them better. He’s not a manager who needs a specific player for his team to work well — he’ll make do with the current crop of players. For a club that’s trying to save money (they spent £600 million on players for ten Hag), that’s a highly valuable skill.
Looking for something different
Finally, perhaps the most pertinent reason why Rúben Amorim was so aggressively pursued by Manchester United is that Erik ten Hag’s time as boss was so obviously over. The Dutch manager never really had the confidence of the board, and after a terrible start to the campaign, it was inevitable that the club would start looking at who else was available.
There aren’t too many elite football managers in Europe at the moment, and even fewer are available. Rúbin Amorim’s relatively low buyout clause and wages meant that he was the obvious selection. The fact he did at Sporting exactly what his remit is at Manchester United — namely awaken a sleeping giant who had fallen way behind their rivals — made him the perfect fit. If he can fulfil his potential, then there’s no doubt it’ll prove to be a shrewd decision.
