The Manchester United manager has already faced several confrontations at Old Trafford, including notable tensions with Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho.
For the 40-year-old, disagreements with wide players seem to be a recurring theme. ..Continue Reading
Brazilian talent Arthur Gomes was stunned after Amorim initially appeared to promise him a starting spot — only to withdraw that assurance weeks later while they were both still at Sporting.
Amorim had signed Gomes in 2022, impressed by his standout performances for Estoril in the Primeira Liga. At the close of the 2022/23 season, Amorim personally called Gomes to tell him he was “counting on him” for the upcoming campaign.
But when Gomes returned from vacation just two weeks later, everything had changed.
“I received a call from the club director, who informed me that Ruben Amorim had changed his mind and was going to change the team’s tactics,” Gomes recounted on ESPN’s Futebol no Mundo podcast.
“He told me that I was a player who needed to play and he didn’t see me making a spot in the first team or on the bench. At the time I was shocked. Two weeks earlier he had said one thing and now I’m not going to be used much?”
Disheartened and puzzled, Gomes contacted Amorim directly, only to have the manager confirm what the director had said. “I said that I wasn’t going to try to change his mind,”
Gomes explained. “I thanked him for the time I spent with him and I was going to see what I could do [in terms of leaving].”
A month later, Gomes transferred to Cruzeiro. Now 27, he plays for Dynamo Moscow, driven to prove he belongs at a top European club.
His experience offers insight into Amorim’s approach to player management. At first, the Portuguese coach “showered” him with praise, lifting his morale and motivation. But the sudden tactical shift felt deeply disappointing, leaving Gomes with no option but to move on.
“My debut [for Estoril] was against Sporting. Ruben Amorim said he wanted me there [at Sporting]. He stated that, since my first game in Portugal, he had never taken his eyes off me,” he remembered.
“When I arrived, on the first day, Ruben called me into his office and said: ‘I’m going to push you every day, demand a lot from you, you’re my bet’. He showered me with praise and gave me a lot of confidence.”
One of the highlights of Gomes’ time at Sporting was his Champions League debut, where he came off the bench to score a stunning goal against Tottenham. “I was ecstatic, very happy to just be on the bench in the Champions League,” he said.
“Amorim called me, I went, and almost nobody noticed I was going to enter because of the euphoria in the stadium. Not even my wife, who was in the stands,” he recalled. Regarding the goal itself, he added: “It was incredible.”
Leave a Reply