Manchester United hired Ruben Amorim on Friday, betting on an unproven manager in Europe’s top leagues to turn around the fortunes of the fading English power.

At 39, Amorim, who joins from Portuguese champions Sporting Lisbon, will be the youngest person to coach United since the 1960s and the sixth permanent manager since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.

He will take charge on November 11 after completing his commitments at Sporting and has signed a contract until June 2027, with United having the option of an additional year.

“Ruben is one of the most exciting and highly regarded young coaches in European football,” United said.

United, the 20-time English champions, have not won the Premier League since Ferguson’s last season in charge. Amorim’s job will be to revive the glory of a club that has fallen far behind the best in England and Europe – something that goes beyond Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and most recently Erik ten Hag, who was dismissed.

United currently sit in 14th place in the 20-team Premier League, having lost four of their first nine games.

Amorim, a former Portuguese midfielder who spent most of his club career at Benfica, joins after United paid 10 million euros ($10.8 million) to release him from his contract with Sporting, which saw him play two Portuguese in four full seasons titles. .

He has only worked in Portugal and has no experience managing some of the game’s best players under the constant gaze of the world’s media.

However, Amorim ended Sporting’s 19-year title drought in the Portuguese league in 2021 to end the dominance of rivals Benfica and Porto, and also won the League Cup that year in his first season in charge .

Sporting also won the league last season and have won all nine league games this season, reinforcing Amorim’s status as an emerging coaching talent. In his only other top role, at Braga, he won the League Cup in less than a season.

Amorim concludes his time at Sporting with a match against Estrela da Amadora on Friday, at home to Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday and with a trip to Braga on November 10.

In the meantime, Ruud van Nistelrooy will retain interim control of United and will be in charge of three matches before the international break, all of which will take place at home – against Chelsea and Leicester in the Premier League either side of a Europa League match against PAOK.

Amorim’s first match with United will take place in Ipswich on November 24.

He reportedly held talks with West Ham last season before the London team hired Julen Lopetegui, and was also linked with replacing Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool before Arne Slot was appointed.

Now he takes charge of one of the world’s most storied clubs, which has fallen into decline over the past decade and is in a period of turmoil following the arrival of a new football-focused leadership team led by British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe .

Ratcliffe will hope he has signed the latest coaching gem, with Amorim becoming the youngest United manager since 31-year-old Wilf McGuinness took charge in 1969.

Following the appointment of Ten Hag, who joined from the Dutch league, it continues United’s shift away from hiring high-profile coaches such as Van Gaal and Mourinho.

___

AP Football: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer