Ruben Amorim is set to become the new Manchester United manager and ‘several Sporting players questioned the coach about the decision’, including Viktor Gyokeres.
Amorim is on the verge of taking over at Old Trafford after Erik ten Hag was sacked on Monday with the Red Devils informing Sporting Lisbon that they are ready to pay the manager’s £8.3m release clause.
They want to have him in place ahead of the clash with Chelsea but that may not be possible unless there is a breakthrough in discussions, with other sticking points involving his backroom staff also needing to be resolved.
He’s reportedly already made his thoughts on the current United squad clear to the board, with four who ‘don’t interest him’ surplus to requirements and set to be made available for transfer in January, while he has his eye on a Sporting quartet to replace them.
Amorim was asked after Sporting’s 3-1 win over Nacional on Tuesday about his supposedly imminent move to United.
Amorim said: “We have to wait a little bit to explain everything I need to explain, then it will be very clear.
“It is my decision. I will tell everything so we have to wait. I don’t know [how long this period will be].”
Amorim was also asked whether he will be at Old Trafford on Sunday to take charge of United’s clash against Chelsea.
He replied: “I will be here in Lisbon.” When Sky Sports reporter Gary Cotterill followed up with “definitely?”, Amorim laughed: “I don’t know,” before making a swift exit out of the press room.
Amorim’s decision to leave mid-season hasn’t gone down well with some of the Sporting players, according to Portuguese outlet O Jogo, who name Gyokeres and Morten Hjulmand as two particularly frustrated stars after they turned down summer proposals in order to continue to play under Amorim at Sporting.
The report states:
‘The news of Rúben Amorim’s departure to Manchester United did not fall well within the Sporting squad, even before the game with Nacional, and several players questioned the coach about the decision to leave the team in the middle of the project.
‘As the coach admitted at the post-game Imprena conference, he had to take “an elephant out of the room” in the morning training, also saying that the players no longer even paid attention to the game’s lecture, taking into account the noise that surrounds them.
‘Now, O Jogo knows that some players of the squad were not satisfied with the news of the interest of the red devils, namely athletes with more market, as is the case of Gyokeres and Hjulmand, who had proposals to leave in the summer transfer window, but who were “enticed” to stay at Sporting due to the double championship project and continuity of Rúben Amorim. Now, this scenario falls to the ground.
‘The Swedish striker himself admitted at the end of the game against Nacional that he “will not wear himself out” with the theme of the exit, while Rúben Amorim is still on the bench. “He’s here and that’s what I’m focused on, let’s see what will happen. He’s still here, so I won’t wear myself out,” he told SportTV.’
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It’s not clear just how angry Gyokeres is with Amorim, though it may be a factor should United want to sign the Sweden international, as a report claims.
The striker is one of the hottest properties in European football right now, leading the way in the 2024 goalscoring stakes, and while his relationship with Amorim would ordinarily be seen as a positive for United, and probably still would be, the Portuguese manager’s decision to walk away having persuaded Gyokeres to stay may throw a spanner in the works for the Red Devils.
