Man United's Ruben Amorim opens up on Jose Mourinho impact amid Pep Guardiola admission

Ruben Amorim admits he's yet to speak to his former mentor Jose Mourinho ahead of taking over at Manchester United as their permanent successor to Erik ten Hag.

The 39-year-old will take over from Ruud van Nistelrooy on November 11 after United announced Amorim as their new head coach last week. Van Nistelrooy will be in charge of his final match for the club against Leicester City as interim manager this coming Sunday afternoon.

Prior to starting his career as a coach, the one-time midfielder, Amorim, underwent a postgraduate degree at the Faculty of Human Kinetics at the University of Lisbon after rescinding his contract with Benfica and had Mourinho as his coordinator and lecturer on the High Performance Coaching course.

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He selected the best students to intern with him, and his coaching staff, as part of that program. In late April 2018, Amorim was among three students selected and visited Mourinho during the latter stages of his final full season at United, which has been well-documented around his appointment.

The incoming United head coach has only played against Mourinho once during Sporting CP's friendly win over AS Roma in 2022. During Monday's press-conference ahead of Sporting's Champions League meeting with Manchester City, Amorim revealed the major impact his compatriot had early on in his coaching career.

Amorim said: "I haven't spoken to Jose Mourinho yet, he's busy with games and so am I. The impact he had on my career was [due to] the way he treated me. He showed me that you can win everything, and be a different person than you think.

"He's a special coach who opened the door for us. I will have time to talk to him, he's very experienced. Regarding my experience in Manchester, it was the only club where I did an internship, but I never said; 'I want to come back as a coach'. But let's see what happens."

Amorim also revealed that he likes to get inspiration from coaches all over the world, adding: "In regards to Pep Guardiola, I've taken a lot from him, from [Roberto] De Zerbi, from Jorge Jesus. I take inspiration from everywhere.

"I look at the best coaches in the world and even others. There are always ideas that we can use."