Manchester United’s new era under Ineos is set to get underway after Erik ten Hag got sacked as the manager and Ruud van Nistelrooy got installed as interim manager.
The timing of the news caught many off guard as there were no murmurs that Ten Hag was on the brink, even though the results should have made it straightforward.
Anyhow, Ruud van Nistelrooy will be in the dugout for the league cup game vs Leicester City as United inch closer to a permanent appointment.
Ruben Amorim has ‘verbally agreed’ a deal to become Man Utd manager and the situation has developed rapidly.
Now, it is set to accelerate further as United’s ambitious idea of Amorim has emerged which will directly impact their plan for Van Nistelrooy-
Man Utd’s plan for Ruben Amorim
It is a remarkable turnaround from just 24 hours ago when it didn’t even look like Amorim was a genuine candidate for the job.
He seemed reticent about leaving Sporting in the middle of the season but stories broke quickly that United were working to appoint him as soon as possible.
The Portuguese press was up in arms about the shock move and they won’t like the latest update coming out of Old Trafford either.
The Times reports that United are being extremely ambitious to wrap this deal up quickly and plan to have Ruben Amorim in charge of the team for the weekend game vs Chelsea.
It was previously predicted that Amorim’s managerial debut could be vs PAOK since it made sense from a narrative and soft-landing POV but they’re clearly willing to throw him into the deep end.
If that happens, it would signal a huge statement of intent to just pluck an extremely successful manager from a great situation to parachute him into this team at this moment.
Man Utd’s plan for Ruud van Nistelrooy
With the club pleading urgency in their move to secure Amorim as the permanent appointment, it does leave questions hanging over Van Nistelrooy.
United’s official statement said that he’d be in interim charge until a permanent appointment is made but nobody thought it would come so soon.
As it stands, the report states that he will be given just one game, vs Leicester, before he joins the coaching staff in his capacity as an assistant again.
It remains to be seen if Amorim brings some members of his team with him in which case Van Nistelrooy might feel the need to leave and start afresh.
It must be noted that Ten Hag stressed repeatedly that Van Nistelrooy was his appointment so even though he’s a United legend, he’s very much a member of Ten Hag’s camp.
That could work against him if Amorim wants to bring his own assistants, especially because Van Nistelrooy’s presence might be too large to ignore as soon as Amorim struggles even slightly.
If “starting afresh” is the motto, then Van Nistelrooy might become an unfortunate casualty of the change.
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