Ruben Amorim reveals the ‘greatest impact’ Jose Mourinho left on him during Man United internship

Ruben Amorim has revealed the ‘greatest impact’ Jose Mourinho left on him during his internship at Manchester United in 2018.

Manchester United have named Ruben Amorim as their new head coach following the exit of Erik ten Hag from Old Trafford.

Ten Hag, whose contract was extended in the summer, experienced a challenging start to the season that left United in 14th place in the Premier League and 21st in the Europa League.

Amorim will take charge of his first game after the November international break, facing Ipswich Town away from home.

Amorim’s internship at United

Amorim actually spent time at United previously during an internship under Jose Mourinho six years ago in 2018.

Shortly after his playing career ended at the age of 32, the future Sporting Lisbon manager began studying for a masters’ degree in high-performance football coaching at the University of Lisbon.

He took part in a week-long internship, where he visited United’s training base and received advice from then-manager Mourinho.

Part of the internship included a masterclass on United’s 2-0 win against Ajax in the Europa League final and Amorim has explained that Mourinho was able to showcase that he could win everything.

Mourinho’s greatest impact on Amorim

The soon-to-be United boss sees this as the ‘greatest impact’ Mourinho left on him as it helped him believe. Although, Amorim does insist that his short-lived history with the club did not have any significant impact on his decision to join in 2024.

“I will have an opportunity to speak to [Jose Mourinho]. He is a very experienced person. The greatest impact on me was how he dealt with me,” Amorim said, as per UnitedInFocus.

“He showed me that he can win everything. He opened the door for many of us. He was very important for us. We knew his teams would win. As Portuguese football fans we started to believe.

“It [the internship] was very interesting. He invited me after I completed the postgraduate [High Performance Coaching] course [at Lisbon University] designed by him.

“It was interesting but not decisive in my decision [to take the United job]. It’s probably the only time where you go somewhere as an intern and go back as the head coach of the first team.”

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