According to the exclusive revelation of "The Athletic", after Amorim took over the coaching position of Manchester United a year ago, the club went through a complicated coaching selection process and held a secret meeting with Amorim in Seville, Spain, before finally convincing the originally hesitant Portuguese to coach.
Last October, Manchester United ranked 15th in the league and fell into the most difficult period in half a century. The decision to sack Ten Hag was made after multiple meetings between the club's top brass in Barcelona and London. During the coaching selection process, the data analysis team initially focused on six candidates: Tuchel, De Zerbi, Pochettino, Frank, Marco Silva and Porter. Amorim was not on the initial list.
It is reported that De Zerbi was once very close to taking over the team, but was unable to reach an agreement due to salary issues. At the same time, Amorim's name came to Manchester United's attention through recommendations from agents and players. In the end, CEO Berada, sports director Ashworth and others flew to Seville and had a five-hour confidential conversation with Amorim.
During the meeting, Amorim elaborated on his three-back tactical concept, but also showed flexibility. He expressed doubts about taking over in the middle of the season and repeatedly asked "Why now?" Manchester United's senior management finally convinced him that taking office half a year in advance would help him become familiar with the Premier League. After verbally agreeing, Amorim hesitated until the last moment before confirming his acceptance of the challenge.
Manchester United paid Sporting CP a termination fee of more than 10 million euros for this purpose, and agreed that Amorim would lead the team to complete two key games before officially taking office.