Had Ruben Amorim’s desire come true, he would still be in Lisbon today, looking forward to a two-week holiday in January and attempting to lead Sporting to a third championship under his leadership—the ideal send-off before moving to Manchester United in the summer.
Ruud van Nistelrooy would still be relishing the excitement of serving as temporary manager at Old Trafford. He may have moved United closer to the top half of the table with the bounce he got out of them and a system they were accustomed to.
Rather, Van Nistelrooy is facing a formidable relegation battle at Leicester City, one of the teams he is attempting to overtake after they went from having a poor season to one where relegation is being discussed. Amorim’s abrupt change and mid-season arrival have made matters worse before they have gotten better.
The 39-year-old head coach, however, anticipated all of this. He preferred to wait until the conclusion of the season when United asked him to replace Erik ten Hag in November. Although he believed he had a task to complete at Sporting, he is aware that major change is easier to implement when there is a summer transfer window and a full preseason ahead.
“I had three days to decide one option that radically changes my life,” Amorim said after United’s move, but while still the manager of Sporting CP.
It was looking like it was going to be a fantastic season, but United’s move put a stop to it. At the time, it seemed like United had acted like a big club should, demanding they get their man now rather than wait another eight months. “The only request I made was for it [the transfer] to be at the end of the season, and they [United] told me that it wasn’t possible; that it was now or never. I knew if I rejected it that in six months I wouldn’t have it. And I knew that in six months I would know that I wouldn’t be at Sporting,” Amori said.
Should they have paid attention to Amorim in retrospect? It could seem pointless to spend the most of the season with a caretaker, but Van Nistelrooy was producing results and was a reliable person. He did not destroy Ten Hag’s 4-2-3-1 system. Rather, he made adjustments, reorganized the crew, and produced an improvement.
These guys obviously don’t meet Amorim’s requirements, and his change has been far more significant. United is in a grave position after five losses in six Premier League games, and they no longer have any hope of qualifying for Europe through the league. Nothing that Amorim could not have learned in the summer if he had begun at Old Trafford is being taught to him now.
Amorim’s hard work at Sporting has begun to be undone. They lost four of the first five games following his departure, and they are currently only ahead on goal differential. It got so terrible that Joao Pereira, Amorim’s replacement, was fired on Boxing Day after only eight games in charge.
It may have been better for United and Sporting, as well as Amorim, Van Nistelrooy, and Pereira, to have maintained the status quo until the end of the season, but a new year is a time for fresh starts. It appeared that United was right to insist that Amorim arrive right away, but the evidence from the previous few weeks points to a different conclusion.
