Manchester United receive message from Pep Guardiola over Ruben Amorim appointment | OneFootball

Officials at Manchester United have received a seal of approval from Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola over their pending appointment of Ruben Amorim as head coach.

The 39-year-old Portuguese coach has recently been strongly linked with interest from Manchester City, as the Premier League champions continue to prepare for possible life without Pep Guardiola, despite a decision on his own future having not been made yet.

Amorim has impressed onlookers over the last few seasons, reviving a Sporting CP side alongside Hugo Viana to rebuild them into the finest squad in the Portuguese game. However, from the side of City, they have reservations over his playing style.

Whilst Viana has already been appointed as Manchester City’s next Director of Football to succeed Txiki Begiristain in the summer of 2025, club bosses feel their next coach must align more to the style and legacy of Guardiola, drawing them towards the likes of Xabi Alonso.

With that being said, there is still high-level admiration for the work done by Ruben Amorim at Sporting ahead of a possible move to Manchester United in the coming days and weeks to succeed Erik ten Hag.

Discussing Amorim during his latest press conference, Pep Guardiola told reporters of the Sporting CP head coach, “Only I can talk is about the experience I played twice against Ruben’s Sporting Lisboa team one or two seasons ago, and the impression was really, really good.”

Guardiola continued, “I spoke with Matheus Nunes that was his player and he spoke highly about him. And look at this season, he’s unbeaten winning all of the games in the Portuguese league and the Champions League the same points with us.

“So a highly manager, so I have the feeling that if Man United, what I hear, is thinking about him it’s because he’s a good manager. So Man United don’t appoint managers that don’t meet that level.”

He explained, “All the managers they’ve had in the last five, six, seven years we cannot say they are not able to lead Man United. What’s going to happen, I don’t know, and what happened in my experience here doesn’t mean it works for the other ones.

“Everyone is everyone because managers are the team, the club, the structure, the physios, the doctors, the players – it’s many things! And what happened here doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in another place.”

Some have wondered whether Ruben Amorim may be too young to take on a role the size of the available managerial position at Manchester United, however Pep Guardiola has strongly dismissed such a belief.

“What is the problem? I started in Barcelona at 37 years-old coming from the fourth division, so knowledge is knowledge. If you are able, it doesn’t matter,” he said.

“For that reason, Lamine Yamal could not play football at 17 years-old, right? So he has to wait till 24. And there are people who are 56 or 57 that are not able to be a manager. What is important is the talent, if you are good. It doesn’t matter the age. Right?”

For now, Manchester City’s priority remains extending the contract of Pep Guardiola into a 10th season at the club, whilst making tenuous conversations with the representatives of coaches of interest to understand their own future intentions.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso is likely to lead any list of candidates given his success within the German game, however City would likely face intense competition from Real Madrid should they pursue the 42-year-old in future.