Manchester United to trigger Ruben Amorim’s £8.3m release clause

Amorim has made it clear he wants to leave Sporting but United must reach agreement with coach on personal terms

Sporting have announced that they are in negotiations for their head coach Ruben Amorim to join Manchester United.
The Portuguese club have said that United will pay the €10 million (£8.3 million) release clause to allow Amorim to leave. The expectation is that a United delegation will now travel to Lisbon to close the deal after Sporting’s Portuguese cup quarter-final at home to Nacional this evening.
As a public company, Sporting are obliged to disclose any information that has a financial impact on them to the Portuguese stock exchange. This afternoon they told the Securities Market Commission in Portugal that United expressed interest in hiring Amorim and the club had referred to the terms of his contract which includes the release clause that now must be triggered. United have indicated they will pay this to allow negotiations to take place.
Amorim has been pushing for the move following the sacking of Erik ten Hag and if a deal is closed quickly it is possible he will be in the United dug-out for Sunday’s Premier League home game against Chelsea.
The 39-year-old has emerged as United’s first choice after a series of talks in recent weeks with formal negotiations beginning on Monday.
Amorim, who speaks perfect English, is one of Europe’s most sought-after young managers and has long been on United’s radar. He was considered when they hired Ten Hag in 2022.
Last summer, Amorim’s release clause was €15 million (£12.5 million) but it has since been reduced per the terms of his contract. Amorim is a highly confident coach who has, previously, been wedded to a 3-4-3 formation and it will be interesting to see if he sticks with that should he join United. Sources say he is unlikely to change.
United have also been considering the former Borussia Dortmund coach Edin Terzic who is out of work having left the German club in the summer despite leading them to the Champions League Final. He too speaks perfect English and has been approached.
Ten Hag was dismissed following a meeting with chief executive Omar Berrada and sporting director Dan Ashworth at the Carrington training ground on Monday morning. United will hire a head coach, under their new structure, rather than a manager which was the title Ten Hag held and fiercely guarded in the summer.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was appointed as one of Ten Hag’s assistants in July, has been placed in temporary charge as interim head coach until a permanent replacement is found.
The United players are set to train with Van Nistelrooy and assistant Rene Hake for the first time on Tuesday before facing Leicester City in the last-16 of the Carabao Cup at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
It is understood that Manchester City do not intend to get involved in the pursuit of Amorim, giving United a clear run at the 39-year-old Portuguese.
The Sporting coach has been heavily linked with the City post amid doubts over Pep Guardiola’s future as manager since it emerged that the Portuguese club’s sporting director Hugo Viana is set to replace Txiki Begiristain as director of football at the Etihad Stadium next year.
But City’s strong preference remains for Guardiola to extend his contract beyond the end of the season.
Guardiola, meanwhile, said Ten Hag will come back stronger after his sacking. The City manager, whose side face Amorim’s Sporting next month, said: “I feel sorry for the managers who lose their position. I’m so sorry for him, I have an incredible relation with him. He represented United in the highest level in terms of behaviour.
“Our job, the manager is one of the few jobs in all the jobs in the world that people expect you to be sacked. People are expecting that you don’t have a job! I don’t see architects or doctors or teachers or anything, people desire “Get out!” It’s only us.
“It’s our job, we have to accept it, I wish him all the best, him and his family, and he is going to come back stronger.”
City are admirers of Amorim’s work at Sporting but it is understood he is not a leading candidate to become the club’s next manager in the event Guardiola did signal his intention to leave in the summer.
That stems primarily from the view that Amorim’s favoured 3-4-2-1 system is not in keeping with how City want their teams to play, from first team level right down through all of their academy sides to the youngest age groups.
Although Guardiola has adapted his 4-3-3 so at times it more closely resembles a 3-2-4-1, Amorim’s preferred tactical set-up is not considered a natural fit for the club and their wider ethos.
The Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso is considered a more likely candidate to replace Guardiola should the Catalan leave, although City would face stiff competition from Real Madrid – Alonso’s former club – for the Spaniard. Nonetheless, City are still hopeful Guardiola will sign an extension to at least cover next season and see his association with the club stretch to a decade.