Manchester United were closing in on Ruben Amorim’s appointment as the club’s new manager on Monday night after Erik ten Hag was sacked earlier in the day.
Amorim, the Sporting manager, had been thought to be minded to stay at the Portuguese champions because of a desire to claim a second title in succession, the club having last achieved this 70 years ago.
However, after the 39-year-old was identified as United’s favoured candidate, he welcomed an approach by the executive and was in discussions on Monday evening to succeed Ten Hag. United hope to unveil him next week.
Amorim, who has a €10m release clause, had been one of the favourites to replace Jürgen Klopp as the Liverpool manager in the summer, before the Merseyside club ultimately made Arne Slot the German’s successor. Amorim also flew to London this year for discussions with West Ham to take over from David Moyes as the manager. He later apologised publicly for the action at a press conference and called it a “mistake”. Manchester City were also interested in Amorim as a potential replacement for Pep Guardiola if he decided to depart the champions at the end of the season.
Amorim is in the fifth year of his career as a head coach. In a first season of management at Braga, he claimed the 2019-20 Taça de Liga (the Portuguese Cup), before taking over at Sporting and has since claimed two Primeira Liga titles and two more Taça de Ligas.
He is considered an astute tactician and a clever man-manager who would hope to effect an immediate turnaround in United’s fortunes. They are in 14th place in the Premier League with 11 points from nine games and a goal difference of -3. In the Europa League, United are 21st, with three draws from three matches.
Although United are seven points behind Aston Villa in fourth place, if Amorim is appointed his hopes of leading the club to a Champions League berth would require a massive upturn in the team’s performances and results, with only eight goals scored so far in the league.
Immediately after removing Ten Hag, United appointed his assistant, Ruud van Nistelrooy, as the interim manager. He is expected to take charge of the side against Leicester in the Carabao Cup last-16 tie on Wednesday night.
United sacked Ten Hag in the wake of the 2-1 defeat at West Ham on Sunday, the result making this one of the club’s poorest starts to a Premier League season. The Sir Jim Ratcliffe-led football department decided there were no longer any excuses for the dismal form and informed Ten Hag at the training ground on Monday morning.
In a statement the club said: “Erik ten Hag has left his role as Manchester United men’s first-team manager. Erik was appointed in April 2022 and led the club to two domestic trophies, winning the Carabao Cup in 2023 and the FA Cup in 2024.
“We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future.
“Ruud van Nistelrooy will take charge of the team as interim head coach, supported by the current coaching team, whilst a permanent head coach is recruited.”
United were intent on giving Ten Hag time as they wanted continuity amid a period of change at the club. It was hoped he would work closely with the new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, and technical director, Jason Wilcox, to turn the club around after finishing eighth last season but there proved no improvement.
The decision is the most significant made by Ratcliffe and his allies since Ineos took a minority stake in the club last December. United’s eight place finish last season was their lowest in the league since 1990, and this campaign there has only been four wins in 13 matches in all competitions.
At the start of September the United chief executive, Omar Berrada, and Ashworth publicly threw support behind Ten Hag. Berrada said: “Do we still believe in Erik? Absolutely. We think Erik is the right coach for us and we’re fully backing him.”
Three days later, however, the Guardian reported that his “game model” was being scrutinised.
Ten Hag had also been under intense pressure at the end of last season but he oversaw victory against Manchester City in the FA Cup final and retained his job after United held talks with a number of candidates before signing a two-year contract extension.
Born 2 February 1970, in Haaksbergen, Netherlands.
Playing career
Ten Hag began his career at the Dutch side Twente, where he played primarily as a defender from 1989-1990.
Stints at Utrecht, De Graafschap and Waalwijk before returning to Twente in 1996, where he finished his playing career in 2002.
Ten Hag made more than 300 league appearances in Dutch professional football.
Coaching career
Ten Hag started coaching in 2012 with Go Ahead Eagles, leading the team to promotion after 17 years outside the Eredivisie in his first season in charge.
In 2013 he joined Bayern Munich II, taking charge of the reserve team and working under the guidance of Pep Guardiola during the Spaniard’s time as Bayern head coach.
Ten Hag returned to the Netherlands to manage Utrecht in 2015, takin them to a fifth-place finish and a spot in the Europa League through the playoffs.
Ajax
Appointed Ajax manager in 2017. During his tenure, the club won three Eredivisie titles (2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22) and two KNVB Cups (2018-19 and 2020-21).
Ten Hag gained widespread acclaim after guiding Ajax to the 2018-19 Champions League semi-finals, the club’s first appearance at that stage since 1997, and beating the defending champions Real Madrid 4-1 and Juventus 2-1 along the way.
Ten Hag left Ajax after leading them to the 2022 KNVB Cup final in April
Manchester United
On 21 April that year Ten Hag was appointed Manchester United manager on a three-year contract.
In his first season in charge he led United to a third-placed Premier League finish and League Cup triumph, ending the club’s six-year trophy drought since a Europa League success in 2017 under Jose Mourinho.
In 2023-24 United finished eighth in the league and won the FA Cup by beating Guardiola’s Manchester City 2-1.
Ten Hag’s United tenure ended on 28 October after a series of inconsistent performances left United in 14th place in the Premier League with 11 points (W3 D2 L4) and three drawn Europa league games.
The Dutchman’s final match in charge was a 2-1 defeat at West Ham following earlier losses against Brighton, Liverpool and Tottenham. Reuters
Those with whom the club held discussions included Thomas Tuchel, who ruled himself out of the role and subsequently was appointed as head coach of the England national team. Other potential successors had included Thomas Frank and the former England manager Gareth Southgate.
Amorim has, however, jumped to the front of the queue with the club in advanced talks.
Ten Hag left Ajax to succeed the interim manager Ralf Rangnick at United ahead of the 2022-23 season and after extending his contract Ten Hag was backed in the transfer market with a £200m spend during the summer. Matthijs De Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Joshua Zirkzee and Manuel Ugarte all joined the club for large fees but none have looked settled since arriving.
