Manchester United news LIVE: Ruben Amorim officially announced as new manager with club statement

Amorim’s favoured 3-4-2-1

Amorim first tried a back three early in his coaching career and he quickly settled upon a preferred 3-4-2-1 shape. At Sporting the system could flex into a 3-4-3 with two wide forwards rather than typical No 10s, and occasionally he played with a 3-5-2, but Amorim rarely deviated from his three-at-the-back foundation.

When Sporting built from deep, two adventurous wing-backs hugged the touchlines to stretch the pitch, leaving space for confident centre-backs to either carry the ball upfield or play passes into midfield. At United, Lisandro Martinez could slot into the left side of a three-man defence while Matthijs de Ligt would likely be the central pin.

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Trust in youth

Amorim inherited a squad which had been ravaged by the sales of key players, with Bruno Fernandes’s move to Manchester United being the most high profile. That money was barely reinvested in the transfer market, meaning Amorim had little choice but to build a team around emerging homegrown talents such as Eduardo Quaresma, Matheus Nunes and Nuno Mendes.

He did so brilliantly, and the young stars of his first title-winning campaign have gone on to play for some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Matheus Nunes moved to Manchester City for £40m; Nuno Mendes went to PSG for £35m; Manuel Ugarte joined PSG for £50m, before moving to Old Trafford where he will be reunited with his former manager; Pedro Porro was bought by Tottenham for £30m.

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Manchester United interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy spoke about whether he will be in charge of the club on Sunday.

He said: “I am guessing that too, as I said I was told it is going to be a short job as an interim, I was happy with that, I felt that I was called upon to help the club in the situation and obviously it was difficult, Erik had to leave, with mixed feelings but you have to switch the mindset to win, at the end 75,000 people waiting and millions watching at home.

“That is what we try to do and same on Sunday.”

What did Ruben Amorim say about Manchester United?

“It’s a negotiation between two clubs. It’s never easy, even with the [release] clauses. They have to talk. We will have clarification after the game, it will be very clear. So it’s one more day and after the game tomorrow, we will have a decision made. We’ll leave that until the end of the game [when] I’ll talk about all these issues. Right now I want the team to focus and me too.

“I promise I’ll talk about it at the end of the game and everything will be clearer. By talking now, it’s destabilising the squad further. Right now, the focus is on Estrela da Amadora. As for doing things differently, I wouldn’t. I didn’t control any of the situation.”

“Without a doubt, without a doubt,” Amorim admits when asked if his players would be mad with him for leaving. “But I don’t interfere in the players’ lives. Now I talk to the players, because I’m Sporting coach. I want to do well for the group.

“I talked to the board about how we are going to manage the squad. But without a doubt my players will be, if I leave, they will be disappointed in me and sad with me. But it’s part of life.

“That happened with me already in Braga. When I came from Braga, from Braga’s stability to here, that happened a little.

“And they were a little disappointed, because they really believed that we were building something special. But then things happen that change people’s lives. And so, it’s a difficult situation.

“I can’t give you more than that. I understand that the players are even disappointed, sad. But I have to live with it. And the important thing is that we reach the end and know how to explain everything.

“Whether people understand it or not, the important thing is to come forward and explain it. And that’s what I’m going to do.”

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”.