Europe’s best manager was “discussed” at United before Amorim’s arrival, side would’ve looked very different under him – report

Ruben Amorim has so far cut a disappointing figure on the touchline for Manchester United.

Amorim arrived at United amid huge expectations, having remarkably led Sporting CP to two Primeira Liga titles. In England, however, the Portuguese tactician has done little to impress.

United’s predictable style of play has been dismantled by many teams, and the Red Devils have only registered eight wins from 31 Premier League games.

Last November, Ineos presented Amorim as the result of an extensive search led by Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox. However, it seems the ex-Sporting boss wasn’t the club’s first choice option to succeed Erik ten Hag.

Manchester United were interested in Luis Enrique

Speaking to The United Stand, journalist Ben Jacobs revealed that United considered a number of managers and even discussed the possibility of appointing Luis Enrique.

“Oliver Glasner, Marco Silva, Thomas Frank, again unavailable because he’s gone to Tottenham, these are names that all formulated part of the process the first time around [when Amorim was hired],” said Jacobs.

He added: “Even Luis Enrique was discussed but obviously is very happy at PSG, so I think there’s a wide array of names because at that point they were still building their sporting structure, so there was an element of inconsistency to the hiring process.”

While United are yet to win back-to-back league games under Amorim, Enrique has conquered Europe with Paris Saint-Germain, having led the Ligue 1 giants to their first Champions League trophy and a historic quadruple. 

PSG also play a very dominating and attractive brand of possession-based football under the Spaniard, who has built his side around technically proficient players.

The same approach led to Enrique offloading Manuel Ugarte, who was deemed not good enough to feature in the middle of the park in the French capital. United bit the bullet, spending around €50m on the Uruguayan. 

Amorim’s job remains safe despite baffling decisions

Ugarte has proven to be an underwhelming addition. Most recently, Amorim started the midfielder over Kobbie Mainoo and Casemiro against Manchester City.

The decision backfired, with the hosts dictating the tempo of the game and registering a 3-0 win.

However, the derby defeat is unlikely to have an impact on Amorim’s position. Recently, The Peoples Person relayed a report claiming United are not trying to replace their current head coach, as things stand.

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