Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has received a “grateful” message from one of his former Sporting CP players after their move to Chelsea.
Ruben Amorim joined Manchester United from Sporting CP during one of the club’s most tumultuous periods, following a recent partial takeover and one of the club’s worst-ever Premier League seasons.
His hiring was a point of contention club. When the newly appointed director of football, Dan Ashworth, opposed his signing, he was sacked from the club, having served United for a shorter period of time than he had spent in gardening leave preparing for the role.
In the time since his appointment, the club hasn’t become any more stable. England international and Carrington graduate Marcus Rashford quickly fell out of favour with the Portuguese manager, and despite his history with the club, he now looks set to leave permanently in the summer.
As well as the tension with Rashford, Amorim’s United career has been blighted by a first campaign that ended with a record low Premier League finish and defeat in the Europa League final to a Tottenham side who had been having an even worse season than United.
However, despite these difficulties, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the United leadership team have decided to back this manager and support him with a rebuild of the squad to fit his style of play.
Next season will reveal whether or not this was the correct decision, but an interview with a new Chelsea signing may have shed light on why United’s leadership have so much faith in this manager.
Essugo credits Amorim with development
Dario Essugo joined Chelsea this summer from Sporting CP for £18.5 million, and in one of his first interviews in blue, he took the time to explain the impact that Ruben Amorim has had on his career.
In an interview with the Mirror, Essugo has explained how after just one training session, Amorim promoted him to the first team squad. “He brought me to the first team so he helped me a lot, to understand the game, to reach the level I am here now,” he said.
Essugo went on to add, “I am grateful. He is so demanding. He is a demanding person. He likes to win every time, so he has helped me a lot.” Essugo only made 12 first-team appearances for Sporting due to talented players like João Palhinha, Morten Hjulmand and last summer’s United signing Manuel Ugarte playing ahead of him.
However, this has not disparaged Essugo’s opinion of Amorim, who made him Sporting’s youngest ever Champions League debutant at only 16 years old.
Why Amorim is being backed
Essugo’s testimony highlights one of Amorim’s strongest attributes, his willingness to trust and implement youth. During his time in charge at Sporting, Amorim handed 27 players their first-team debuts, and a number of these individuals – including Nuno Mendes and Goncalo Inacio – were instrumental in building his multi-title-winning team.
Trusting the youth is clearly a strategy that Amorim has continued at United, having given multiple youngsters first-team debuts and crucially, developing ones who debuted under Erik ten Hag.
Amongst the youngsters to have thrived under Amorim are Tyler Fredricson and Harry Amass, who were relied upon to strengthen an injury-ridden backline.
After signing from Arsenal’s youth team last summer, Chido Obi and Ayden Heaven also featured numerous times for United this season, with the latter going straight into the first team squad. These four players were some of the only shining lights at the club this season that gave fans hope.
There are two main reasons that this has been seen as such an appealing quality in Amorim. Firstly, it’s a necessary solution to a difficult financial situation, due to PSR issues and over a decade of rampant expenditure at the club, United are not in a position to make a multitude of big-money signings.
This means, where possible, it is smart to supplement the United squad with youth academy products, and Amorim has a track record of implementing youth into his sides.
The second reason is arguably the more important one, youth is in the United DNA. Since October 1937, every United match day squad has included at least one Academy graduate, a record that few other clubs in the world come close to.
Nurturing talent is a part of United’s heritage, and there are few managers currently available who have a greater track record with nurturing youth than Ruben Amorim. Next season, Amoirm will have a team of his own signings and players that view him, just like Essugo does, as invaluable to their career, and that could be the foundation of a team that returns United to winning ways.
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