Cristiano Ronaldo’s nickname for Ruben Amorim revealed as Man Utd close in on manager | Football

The 39-year-old now finds himself within touching distance of the Manchester United job, just the latest step in an extraordinary and meteoric rise for a special talent with the world at his feet.

Sporting confirmed this afternoon that United had signalled their intention to pay Amorim’s €10million (£8.3m) release clause in full in order to secure his services at Old Trafford.

Ruud van Nistelrooy will take over the reins from Erik ten Hag on an interim basis for the time being, though, with the Red Devils taking on Leicester City for a place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals tomorrow night.

While Amorim has remained tight-lipped amid the intense speculation, it seems every man and his dog have voiced their opinions on the manager’s impending switch, including Peter Schmeichel, who views the Portuguese as a ‘great candidate’.

‘Under Amorim, no player is irreplaceable and more important than the club.

‘The Manchester United job may look like an impossible one right now, but so did Sporting’s when Amorim was unveiled as their head coach on March 5 2020.

‘Eloquent and outgoing, Amorim is irresistible and dominates the words in such a way that Cristiano Ronaldo used to call him “poet” in the national team.’

Alves is confident Amorim possesses the necessary tools to steer United out of the malaise that has taken hold since Sir Alex Ferguson departed in 2013.

‘Above all, he doesn’t tolerate lack of professionalism,’ Alves added.

‘This is a man who has pacified a team who seemed to be at war with itself once.

‘He surely can do that twice if he’s allowed to.’

Facing the media on Monday, Amorim refused to be drawn the incessant rumours linking him with the United job and insisted he remained focussed on Sporting.

‘I was expecting that question and obviously I’m not going to talk about the future, because otherwise I’ll always have to comment, so it’s not worth it, I won’t comment,’ he told reporters.

‘I’m very proud to be the coach of Sporting, that’s all.’