New manager Ruben Amorim was welcomed by senior Man Utd directors upon his arrival at Carrington.
“It’s not just Carrington. It’s home. A warm welcome to Amorim at the team’s training centre,” Man Utd’s social media account wrote, posting the latest images of the team’s new head coach.
Amorim brought five colleagues to Manchester, including Carlos Fernandes, 29, Adelio Candido, 28, Emanuel Ferro, 45, Jorge Vital, 65, goalkeeping coach, and Paulo Barreira, a sports science specialist.
Thousands of fans watched live as the plane from Lisbon landed at Manchester Airport at around 2pm on November 11, London time. Amorim then arrived at Carrington with a police escort. At Man Utd’s headquarters, the 39-year-old coach shook hands with CEO Omar Berrada and chatted with sporting director Dan Ashworth and technical director Jason Wilcox.
According to Manchester Evening News, Amorim’s first move as Man Utd coach was to meet and greet the team’s staff. But the Portuguese coach cannot carry out the duties of a head coach, including directing training sessions, until Man Utd completes the procedures related to work permits.
In the meantime, Amorim will get used to the new environment and Man Utd players who were not called up to the team for this FIFA Days, including the trio of English stars Marcus Rashford, Harry Maguire and Kobbie Mainoo.
12 hours before flying to Manchester, Amorim had an emotional farewell when he and Sporting won 4-2 against Braga in the Portuguese league.
After the match, Amorim revealed that he would speak to Ruud van Nistelrooy about his future, and praised the Dutchman for his good job in the interim after Erik ten Hag was sacked. Van Nistelrooy led four matches, winning 5-2 against Leicester in the League Cup round of 16, drawing 1-1 with Chelsea in the Premier League, beating PAOK 2-0 in the Europa League and 3-0 against Leicester in the Premier League.
But yesterday, Man Utd confirmed that Van Nistelrooy will not be part of the new coaching staff under Amorim.
Amorim will make his debut when Man Utd visit Ipswich Town in the 12th round of the Premier League on 24/11. He will work with the entire Man Utd squad about three days before that.
Sporting announced the appointment of B team coach Joao Pereira to replace Amorim on a contract until June 2027.
During his playing career, Pereira played for many European clubs such as Benfica, Braga, Sporting, Valencia, Hannover and Trabzonspor. At the international level, he played for the U15, U16, U18, U19, U21 teams and had 40 matches for the Portuguese national team, participating in Euro 2012 and the 2014 World Cup. After retiring, he became the coach of Sporting U23 from July 2022, then became the coach of the B team two years later.