Man Utd dressing room’s concerns on Ruben Amorim arrival come to light

Ruben Amorim has taken over as Manchester United’s new manager and players will have to be at their best to impress the highly-rated former Sporting Lisbon boss

Manchester United star Matthijs de Ligt admits that Ruben Amorim’s arrival might not be good news for everyone at Old Trafford.

Amorim, 39, began his new role on Monday after leaving Sporting Lisbon, having led the Portuguese giants to two league titles in four-and-a-half years. The highly-rated coach replaces Erik ten Hag, who was reluctantly sacked last month on the back of United winning just four of their opening 13 games this season.

Cult hero Ruud van Nistelrooy, who won’t be part of Amorim’s coaching staff, steadied the ship as caretaker, going unbeaten and bringing the feel-good factor back to Old Trafford. De Ligt, who joined the Red Devils from Bayern Munich this summer in a £42million transfer deal, started three of Van Nistelrooy’s games but knows that nothing is guaranteed under a new manager.

“I don’t know much about him yet, but I do know that he did a good job at Sporting,” De Ligt told Viaplay following Sunday’s comfortable 3-0 win at home to Leicester City. “With a new coach, it’s always a bit of a wait and see. You have to do your very best and remain yourself.”

That wait and see will be just under a fortnight for De Ligt, as United don’t play again until November 24, when they’ll visit newly-promoted Ipswich Town. The Dutch defender will hope to impress Amorim during the international break with his performances for the Netherlands, who have two fixtures in the Nations League; hosting Hungary before travelling to face Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Get involved! Which players will Ruben Amorim like at Manchester United? Have your say in the comments section.

De Ligt is likely to benefit from Amorim’s use of three centre-backs in his preferred 3-4-3 formation which brought him success in Lisbon. After managing Sporting for the final time on Sunday, enjoying a 4-2 victory over Braga to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season, Amorim hinted that he’ll be employing the same system at United.

“I know how I am going to play in the beginning, because you have to start with a structure that you know,” the 39-year-old revealed. “Then you will adapt with the players that you have, some injuries, or no injuries, what kind of players have the abilities to defend, attack, I will discover that in the next few weeks.

“We don’t have a lot of time to train, so I have to show something that I know very well. You can take whatever you want from that.”

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