Manchester United’s former manager Ruben Amorim is already being linked with making moves at AC Milan.
Ruben Amorim has been hired as AC Milan head coach, his first job since his Manchester United sacking.
Amorim is tasked with trying to rejuvenate Milan after their fifth placed finish in Serie A.
It means that Milan did not qualify for the Champions League, although he will face Manchester United on neutral ground in Poland in pre-season.
Both teams will be looking to improve their squads ahead of the mid-August showdown.
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Amorim’s two early targets
According to Gianluca di Marzio, Ruben Amorim is eyeing a raid on former club Sporting.
Milan are considering moves for two of Amorim’s former players, attacker Francisco Trincao and defensive midfielder Morten Hjulmand.
Both players were linked with moves to Manchester United during Amorim’s stint.
However, Amorim was not allowed to raid his former side.
Amorim had a gentleman’s agreement with Sporting not to sign any of their players in January 2025. And then in summer 2025, Manchester United’s priority was to target Premier League based players.
Amorim’s budget at Milan is unclear, so it remains to be seen whether he can finance a move for Hjulmand in-particular, who Sporting are unlikely to let go on the cheap.
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Former player method did not work for Erik ten Hag
It would be interesting for Amorim to cherry-pick two of his former players at Sporting to work in his system.
Manchester United were reluctant to go down this route with Amorim after the failure with Erik ten Hag.
United recruited heavily to sign players Ten Hag had previously worked with; Antony, Lisandro Martinez, Andre Onana, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.
It did not save Ten Hag from the sack, and United did not want a repeat.
Amorim’s system was so specific, that he probably needed to hand-pick his players even more-so.
He did have one player at United he worked with at Sporting; Manuel Ugarte. But this was a coincidence, he did not go to his former side and specifically ask to sign him.
He may still regret that this did not happen at United, so look to see if it is any different at AC Milan.
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