Ruben Amorim: Crystal Palace eye ex-Man United coach on one condition

Manchester United face the uncomfortable prospect of coming up against Ruben Amorim next season, as Crystal Palace are considering appointing the 41-year-old coach – but only on one condition, according to a new report.

Despite 14 months of steadfast support, INEOS’ patience with Amorim ran out after Christmas, as the hierarchy brought an end to his tumultuous tenure. Following a 1-1 draw with Leeds United on January 4, the Portuguese launched a series of thinly veiled accusations at his bosses, repeatedly telling the room full of stunned journalists that he was the “manager, not coach” of the club.

Demands for the recruitment department and the sporting director, directed at both Christopher Vivell and Jason Wilcox, to “do their jobs” so that he could do his was a final bombastic flourish of an angry press conference. This attack on the hand which protected him was ill-advised, as INEOS’ backing was the only source of strength Amorim retained off the pitch, given his team had offered nothing on it.

But it was not the death knell in his time in M16; rather, it was an explosive meeting with Wilcox a few days prior which sealed his fate. The pair discussed the infamous 3-4-2-1 system, with Wilcox stressing the need for change, a move fully supported by co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Amorim furiously rejected this imposition, however, instead telling the director the squad needed “changing” and threatening to call his agent to leave the club. Three days later, he got his wish.

The remarkable transformation that Michael Carrick , hired as caretaker coach until the end of the season, has overseen in the wake of Amorim’s dismissal repudiates this assertion that the players were the problem. The imperious form of Kobbie Mainoo , as one example, proves this perfectly.

Rather, it was an obstinate coach clinging to a system and philosophy in desperate need of adaptation to the much more competitive league he found himself in. While the former Sporting CP manager enjoyed unrelenting success in Lisbon, he left Manchester with a dismal win record, the club’s worst campaign in the Premier League, and a Europa League final defeat to a side who had never won a European trophy before.

With this dismal record in mind, why would a Premier League side be willing to roll the dice on bringing Amorim back to England, as Crystal Palace are understood to be considering?

TEAMtalk reveals they are ramping up plans to appoint a successor to Oliver Glasner, who will leave Selhurst Park at the end of the season. Interestingly, the Austrian tactician is a name on United’s shortlist for a permanent head coach, though Carrick is understood to be in pole position to keep the job beyond the summer.

The Eagles’ first-choice target is Coventry City manager Frank Lampard, fresh from securing automatic promotion from the Championship after Friday night’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers. But the Sky Blues are intent on keeping the former England international in place for their return to England’s top division, leading Palace to consider alternatives – with Amorim firmly in the mix.

There is logic as well, given the overlap between the ex-United man’s system and the one Glasner has successfully implemented in south London, leading to an FA Cup and Community Shield double last summer. Other names on the list include Andoni Iraola, another target at Old Trafford, Robbie Keane, and Thomas Frank, still smarting from his own ‘big six’ sacking with Tottenham Hotspur.

It’s believed Palace would only entertain Amorim as an option if a pursuit of Lampard, or another highly rated candidate like Iraola, proves unsuccessful. Whether the prickly Portuguese would bristle at the prospect of a return to England, or if he harbours ambitions of proving his former employers wrong, remains to be seen.

Amorim has been strongly linked with taking charge of Benfica, Sporting’s local rivals in Lisbon, as uncertainty swirls around the current manager at the Estadio da Luz, Jose Mourinho. ‘The Special One’ has been linked with his own return to England as Newcastle consider potential replacements should Eddie Howe call it quits on Tyneside.

Featured image Molly Darlington via Getty Images

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