Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim insisted he doesn't want to have "the same conversation" again amid links with the Manchester United job, insisting he has had no contact from the English club.
Amorim was one of the managers linked with United in 2021 and 2022 before the Red Devils eventually settled on Erik ten Hag. However, with pressure mounting on Ten Hag amid a difficult start to the season, Amorim is said to be part of a two-man shortlist to take over if the Dutchman makes way.
The 38-year-old was asked about the links on Thursday when his Sporting team beat Farense in the Portuguese League Cup. However, he was quick to shut down the discussion.
"This year I’m not going to go back to the same conversation as last year," Amorim said, as translated by The Mail. Sporting won 4-2 against Farense thanks to a hat-trick from summer signing Viktor Gyokeres, and currently sit top of the Primeira Liga after nine unbeaten league games, but the boss was in no mood to entertain United links.
"I’m not going to make any kind of comment on these situations," he added. "We don’t know the future, it depends on the results.
"Regarding the future, I have an idea for the end of the season but I won’t say it now. But the results and the context take us to something different. I don’t want to be commenting on these things. I have not been contacted by Manchester United."
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Zbigniew Meissner/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)Amorim's latest comments are consistent with those he made back in 2021, when he insisted links with the Old Trafford hotseat were mere rumours. On that occasion, he gave the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that United ought to move for Ten Hag after Ole Gunner Solskjaer's exit, with those comments recently coming back to light.
“We are talking about rumours here. I was clear about my future last week," Amorim said in 2021. "Several names were thrown around. Therefore, they’re rumours that I don’t give much attention to.
"However, if I may, I think Manchester United should sign Ten Hag this week. Now that would be something that would make me quite happy.”
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Those comments came ahead of Sporting's Champions League group stage defeat away to an Ajax side managed at the time by Ten Hag. However, while Ten Hag did end that campaign agreeing to an Old Trafford switch, Amorim stayed at Sporting and won the Primeira Liga before overseeing a less impressive fourth-place finish last term.
Eight wins from nine league games have returned his name to the headlines, though. If Ten Hag does end up losing his job at United - and the pressure could mount if he fails to get a result at Fulham on Saturday - then the Sporting boss may face more of the same questions in the coming weeks.
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