Ruben Amorim takes charge of Manchester United for the first time on Sunday (Picture: Getty Images)
Ruben Amorim says Jose Mourinho was quick to send him a message after he took the Manchester United job, and he agreed with the former manager’s sentiments.
Amorim was appointed earlier this month but will finally take charge of the team for the first time on Sunday at Ipswich Town in the Premier League.
There is a lot of excitement around the club, with the former Sporting boss very highly rated as a manager and fans expectant that he can achieve where Erik ten Hag failed.
Ten Hag was not the first manager to fail to meet the standards set at Old Trafford by the legendary Alex Ferguson, with Mourinho also having an ill-fated spell in charge of the Red Devils.
However, the current Fenerbahce boss clearly still holds Manchester United in high regard, if his message to Amorim is anything to go by.
‘He [Jose Mourinho] sent me a message,’ said Amorim at his pre-match press conference on Friday. ‘He said it is a big club, with lovely people. It still is. That is correct.’
Given their shared nationality there are bound to be comparisons between Amorim and Mourinho, but the new Manchester United manager has dismissed that talk.
Ruben Amorim and Jose Mourinho in their previous roles at Sporting and Roma (Picture: Getty Images)
‘I am different from Mourinho. I am a different person,’ he said. ‘At that time [in his first Chelsea stint] you looked at him and thought he could win everything.
‘Football is different but I am a young guy, I try to understand my players and if you remember the young guys at Chelsea were Lampard etc.
‘Nowadays it is much different but I believe I am the right guy at the right moment.’
Amorim stuck to that point, admitting he could of course be wrong, but believing he is the man to take United back to the top.
‘Call me naive, but I truly believe I am the right guy in the right moment,’ said the 39-year-old.
‘I could be wrong but the world still will turn, the sun will rise again, I don’t worry about that. I truly believe I’m the right guy for this job.’
Amorim has been quick to identify Manchester United’s weaknesses (Picture: Getty Images)
With the Red Devils currently 13th in the Premier League, significant improvement is clearly needed and Amorim picked out two areas in which he intends to level-up the team.
‘If you want to speak about the way we play, we lose the ball too often, so we need to keep the ball better,’ he said. ‘We need to be better running back and I think that’s clear for everybody. We have to be clear in the small details.’
The new boss has signed a contract until 2027, with an option for a further year, and he says this will be enough time to work out whether the partnership will be a fruitful one.
‘Two years, you can understand if you have found the right manager to go in this process,’ he said.
‘I think we will need more time because if you look at the other clubs winning in this league they have been making this progress for a long time.
‘We will have to win something somewhere but in two years I think you will be able to see if it is right to continue in this path.’