Ruben Amorim made a curious statement regarding Manchester United following his arrival at AC Milan.
The Portuguese tactician had an eventful 14-month spell at Old Trafford, culminating with his sacking in January.
The 41-year-old almost invited the hierarchy to wield the axe with a lively post-match press conference at Elland Road, reiterating that he was Man Utd’s ‘manager’ rather than ‘head coach’. INEOS obliged by removing him from his post the following morning.
Ruben Amorim describes Milan challenge as ‘bigger’ than Man Utd’s
In hindsight, parting ways with Amorim proved to be a fruitful decision by Man Utd, as Michael Carrick enjoyed a positive five-month spell, with the club comfortably securing third place in the Premier League table and subsequently returning to the Champions League.
But despite his Carrington woes, the Portuguese manager maintained a solid reputation, chiefly due to his previous exploits at Sporting Club.
Therefore, Milan decided to bet on his services, appointing him as their new head coach after relieving Max Allegri from his duties in May.
| Man Utd Managers | EPL Matches in Charge | Points Average |
| Michael Carrick | 19 | 2.26 |
| Sir Alex Ferguson | 810 | 2.16 |
| Ruud van Nistelrooy (caretaker) | 2 | 2.00 |
| Jose Mourinho | 93 | 1.89 |
| Ole Gunnar Solskjaer | 109 | 1.81 |
| Louis van Gaal | 76 | 1.79 |
| Ryan Giggs (caretaker) | 4 | 1.75 |
| Erik ten Hag | 85 | 1.72 |
| David Moyes | 34 | 1.68 |
| Ralf Rangnick | 24 | 1.54 |
| Ruben Amorim | 47 | 1.23 |
(Via Statmuse)
Amorim arrived in Northern Italy on Monday and immediately stirred the pot with his first public statement.
While chatting with Italian journalists who gathered around Milan’s headquarters, the former MUFC manager admitted he was aiming to rebound at a smaller club, but somehow ended up accepting a ‘bigger challenge’.
“If you see my old interview that I gave, it is a club (Milan) that is really special to me,” said Amorim as reported by Sky Sports.
“It is a big challenge. I promised myself after the last one [Manchester United] that I would choose a smaller challenge. But I am here – and [the challenge] is even bigger.”
Did Amorim aim a dig at Man Utd?
Amorim might not be strange to colourful statements. This is a man who bluntly declared he would rather field his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach than Marcus Rashford, whom he had ostracised at the time.
So by suggesting that Milan is a ‘bigger’ challenge than Man Utd, it could be read as a subtle dig towards his old employers, suggesting that they aren’t as big as the seven-time European champions.
Nevertheless, this might not necessarily be the Portuguese’s intention, as he could simply be referring to the size of the challenge that awaits him at Milan, who failed to qualify for the Champions League last season, and are lagging behind their neighbours Inter Milan and others like Napoli in recent years.
Therefore, Amorim has once again a major task at hand, as the Rossoneri have only won one league title (2022) over the last 15 years.
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