LISBON, Portugal (AP) — Manchester United target Rúben Amorim has promised to clarify his future coaching plans after his Sporting Lisbon team plays a Portuguese league game on Friday evening.
Amorim spoke on Thursday at a news conference ahead of league-leading Sporting facing Estrela da Amadora. Sporting have started their title defense with nine straight wins.
“After the game tomorrow, we will have the decision made,” Amorim said. “It will be very clear, so it’s one more day.”
The 39-year-old coach’s growing reputation and two Portuguese league titles in four seasons attracted Manchester United, which fired Erik ten Hag on Monday with the team 14th in the English Premier League.
Sporting later released a statement to the Lisbon Stock Exchange saying United were interested in paying the release clause in Amorim’s contract worth 10 million euros ($10.8 million) in his contract.
“It is a negotiation between two clubs,” Amorim said on Thursday. “It’s never easy. Even with the clauses it’s never easy, they have to talk.”
Reports in English and Portuguese media suggest Amorim will move to Manchester during the next break for national team games. That would make his first Manchester United game on November 24 at Ipswich.
One of Amorim’s likely final games with Sporting is hosting Manchester City on Tuesday in the Champions League.
Amorim had been linked to joining Manchester City, where Pep Guardiola has not publicly committed to renewing a contract that expires after the season. Manchester City’s next director of football, Hugo Viana, will join from Sporting after this season.
Manchester United were led by interim coach Ruud van Nistelrooy on Wednesday and beat Leicester 5-2 in the English League Cup.
Van Nistelrooy, a former Manchester United star striker who returned in the offseason to assist his Dutch compatriot Ten Hag, seems set to coach the team for three more home games: Chelsea visit in the Premier League on Sunday, then PAOK in the Europa League, and Leicester again in the Premier League on November 10.
