‘Made the Decision'-Silence Broken on Ruben Amorim's First Job After Man Utd
Ruben Amorim's representatives have released a statement revealing that the former Manchester United boss has already "made the decision" to not take another job at a Portuguese club.
This clarification was prompted by widespread reports linking Amorim with a position at Benfica. The Portuguese giants, who used to call upon the former midfielder as a player, are expected to be in need of a new coach in the likely scenario that José Mourinho takes over Real Madrid.
In the face of this mounting speculation, Amorim's agency AS1 released a statement to Record which read: "Ruben Amorim made the decision a long time ago to pursue his career abroad.
"Therefore, he has not had any meetings with Portuguese clubs to discuss working conditions, structure, squad, salary, or anything else.
"Anything said beyond that is mere speculation and does not correspond to reality."
What Next for Ruben Amorim?
The judgement of a manager is not crystallized at the end of their tenure. What follows in their absence invariably has an impact on the general perception of their time at the same club, fairly or otherwise. Xabi Alonso's Real Madrid reign, for example, has been made to look far more impressive when set against the literal in-fighting which rose following his departure. Amorim has suffered the opposite fate.
There weren't many flattering eulogies to commemorate the death of his disastrous Manchester United career. Any retrospective has been given an even more negative slant by the instant success of Amorim's successor, Michael Carrick, who led the exact same set of players which were dumped out of the Carabao Cup second round to fourth-tier Grimsby Town to third place in the Premier League.
Nevertheless, some of those from within the walls of Old Trafford still look upon Amorim favorably.
"I really like Ruben, he's got great ideas," Harry Maguire reflected back in March. "The ideas just didn't work at Manchester United. I do believe he'll go on and have an amazing career, and at his next club he'll probably go and win many, many football matches."
Where that career will be still remains to be seen. Reports from Portugal claim that Amorim is planning on extending his sabbatical across the entire 2026–27 season. This would entitle the 41-year-old to further compensation from Manchester United and give him ample time to widen his managerial scope by seeking out the advice of others in the game while performing a detailed analysis of what went wrong at Old Trafford.
Amorim has been linked with a wide variety of positions, varying from Brazilian top-flight side Vasco da Gama to an international posting, although the substance of these reports has been lacking.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 2:00 AM.