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Rúben Amorim is set to take charge of Manchester United during the November international break, sources confirmed to ESPN.
United and the Portuguese champions Sporting CP have made significant progress on an agreement for the departure of their head coach to the Premier League club.
Amorim is set to succeed Erik ten Hag, who was sacked on Monday, as head coach at Old Trafford and would be the sixth permanent appointment in the role since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013.
Sources told ESPN that United have triggered the former Braga coach’s €10 million ($10.87m) release clause at Sporting, and the English club will also pay compensation to enable a number of Amorim’s backroom staff to join him at Old Trafford.
But with the terms of Amorim’s contract at Sporting including a 30-day notice period, sources have told ESPN that United will be forced to wait until mid-November for Amorim to formally take charge of the team following Sporting’s league game away to Braga on Nov. 10.
As a consequence, Amorim will also take charge of Sporting’s home game against Estrela on Friday and next Tuesday’s Champions League clash against Manchester City, which will be his final home game at Estadio Jose Alvalade.
ESPN sources said that Ruud van Nistelrooy, who guided United to a 5-2 Carabao Cup fourth round win against Leicester City in his first game as interim head coach on Wednesday, will take charge of the team’s next three games — all at Old Trafford — against Chelsea, PAOK Thessaloniki and Leicester again before handing over the reins to Amorim.
Amorim’s first game in charge will be the Premier League fixture against Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Nov 24, sources told ESPN.
United are 14th in the Premier League having won just three of their opening nine games.
Meanwhile, Amorim has said he will address his future after Sporting’s game against Estrela Amadora on Friday.
“I know you [journalists] made the journey to talk about this and it’s normal. At the end of [Friday’s] game I will talk about this and everything will become clearer,” he told a news conference on Thursday.
“I want the players’ and my focus to be on the game. The focus is on tomorrow’s game and then I will talk.”
When asked why negotiations are taking longer, Amorim said: “It’s a negotiation between two clubs, which is not easy. We will have clarification after the game. Then, the decision will be known.”
The 39-year-old has spent his entire coaching career in Portugal and hinted at his desire to step out of his comfort zone.
“All coaches need it [to leave their comfort zone], I don’t want to go into too much detail, but here we have very good conditions, six years ago we were at Casa Pia and we paid to work, so it doesn’t involve any of that, it’s not monetary reasons,” he said.
“When I talk about the staff, it’s not just my assistants, I’m talking about everyone, physiotherapists, kit men, it’s difficult to find these environments, it was one of the reasons I always wanted to stay.
“Regarding about stability, we’ll talk tomorrow, but in everyone’s life there are also phases in which we are doing well in life but something is missing, or we want to prove something and we have to take a step forward in things that will destabilize us, we don’t know whether it will work or not, whether we are ruining what is so good we have. Everyone feels this and coaches go through the same thing.”
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash with Chelsea, Van Nistelrooy reiterated that he was eager to stay at the club, even under a new manager.
“I decided to come back here for a very important reason, that I am here as an assistant, I came here to help the club forward and I am still very motivated to do so in any capacity, as an assistant and now an interim and after that I go back to my assistant contract,” he said at a news conference Thursday.
“I am very motivated to stay here and help the club forward.”
Information from ESPN’s Adriana Garcia contributed to this report.
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