Man City boss Pep Guardiola breaks silence on Manchester United's Ruben Amorim appointment

Pep Guardiola won't offer new Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim any advice when Manchester City travel to Sporting next week.

United confirmed Amorim's appointment on Friday, with the Sporting manager to take charge from November 11 after completing his notice period in Portugal. Before departing the Jose Alvalade Stadium, he will take charge of three more fixtures - including against City in the Champions League on Tuesday. That will represent his final home fixture in charge.

Guardiola praised Amorim last week after news that he was United's top target, and there is another City connection in that the Blues have appointed Amorim's close colleague Hugo Viana to be their next Sporting Director. That had led to suggestions that Amorim could be of interest to City for their next managerial appointment, but those reports were wide of the mark.

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Instead, Amorim will try to do what five managers have failed to achieve during Guardiola's reign and make United into a formidable force once again. City host United on December 15 in one of Amorim's first big games in charge.

And Guardiola said on Friday: "Welcome to United, to England. I congratulate him, [we will speak] next Tuesday. I'm not the right person to give advice to colleagues. They have a lot of people at United who can give information about what is happening at United."

Last week, Guardiola talked up Amorim's credentials - having referenced City's 5-0 win over Sporting in 2021 multiple times since their last trip to Lisbon. City were ruthless that day and Guardiola has often insisted the result flattered them.

"All I can talk about is the experience of playing twice against Ruben’s Sporting Lisbon team, one or two seasons ago, and the pressure was really, really good," he said.

"So a high manager. I hear that Man United are thinking about him, it’s because he’s a good manager. Man United don’t appoint managers who aren’t that level so 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, because what happened here in my experience here, doesn’t mean it works for the other ones. Everyone is everyone, the manager is the team, the club, the structures, the physios, the doctors, the players, it’s many things. What happened here doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in another place."