Pep Guardiola believes potential Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim is ‘a good manager’

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester United will be getting a high-level coach in Ruben Amorim but warned success depends on much more than the credentials of one individual.

After sacking Erik ten Hag on Monday, United have quickly settled on 39-year-old Sporting Lisbon boss Amorim as their favoured successor.

Guardiola came up against Amorim in the Champions League last 16 in early 2022, held to a goalless draw in Manchester before Bernardo Silva scored twice in a convincing 5-0 win in Portugal.

When asked if Amorim has what it takes to succeed in the Premier League, Guardiola said: “All I can talk about is the experience of playing twice against Ruben’s Sporting Lisbon team, one or two seasons ago, and the pressure was really, really good.

“I spoke with Matheus Nunes, and he was his player, and he speaks highly about him. And look this season, he is unbeaten and winning all the games in the Portuguese League and the Champions League, (they have) the same points as us.

“So a high manager. I have the feeling that Man United, what I hear, that they are thinking about him, it’s because he’s a good manager. Man United don’t appoint managers who aren’t at that level so we cannot say they are not able to lead Man United.”

Of course United have appointed managers with outstanding CVs before – Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho among them – without sustained success in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.

“What’s going to happen I don’t know, because what happened here in my experience, doesn’t mean it works for the other ones,” Guardiola added.

“The manager, the team, the club, the structures, the physios, the doctors, the players, it’s many things. What happened here doesn’t mean it’s going to happen in another place.”

Amorim has