Ruben Amorim Denies Manchester City Contact Before Ioining Manchester United

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim insists he did not speak to Manchester City about replacing Pep Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium before making his move to Old Trafford. As Amorim prepares for his first Manchester derby on Sunday, the 39-year-old's link to City prior to his arrival at United has become a hot topic. United hired the highly-regarded Amorim from Sporting Lisbon in November after sacking Erik ten Hag. Amorim had been mentioned as a contender to take over from Guardiola after City announced Sporting's director of football Hugo Viana would replace Txiki Begiristain at the end of this season.

Guardiola eventually ended speculation over his future by signing a new two-year contract shortly after Amorim's arrival in Manchester.

Asked if he ever had a conversation about the prospect of joining City, Amorim told reporters: "Never. Never had and this was my only option.

"When Manchester United talked to me, I had no doubts because I had already something in my mind that it could be a possibility.

"With Manchester City or Hugo Viana? Nothing about that."

Amorim's side ended a run of two successive defeats with a 2-1 victory at Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on Thursday.

But United have won just three of Amorim's six games in charge and are languishing in 13th place after recent losses to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest underlined the extent of the rebuilding job he faces.

Yet, for the first time in years, City go into the derby mired in more turmoil than United after a dismal run of one win in 10 games in all competitions.

'We have a lot of issues'

Wednesday's 2-0 Champions League defeat at Juventus was City's seventh loss in their last 10 matches, an astonishing decline for a club that has won the last