Manchester United will have to pay Ruben Amorim £12 million in compensation if they sack the Portuguese coach within the first year of his tenure at Old Trafford.
Despite the club’s worst league start in 33 years, Manchester United’s senior management still backs Amorim and has not panicked.
On November 1 last year, Manchester United signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Amorim, worth £6.5 million per season, with an option to extend for a further 12 months. Prior to that, United agreed to pay £9.2 million to Sporting Lisbon to buy out Amorim’s contract in Portugal.
It is understood that if the 40-year-old coach is sacked before the first anniversary of his appointment (in less than seven weeks), he will receive £12 million in compensation.
Before this date, Manchester United face a tough run of fixtures: they will host Chelsea on Saturday, then travel to Brentford before the October international break, and host early-season surprise package Sunderland at home; they will then conclude the month with an away trip to Liverpool and a home game against Brighton.
After that, they will face an away match against Nottingham Forest on the anniversary of Amorim’s tenure.
Although the Portuguese manager stated in May that he would resign without compensation if Manchester United felt he was no longer the right person for the job, this scenario is unlikely to happen.
Since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, Manchester United has struggled to afford the cost of their sixth manager, and the club’s ongoing financial difficulties will be revealed when their annual financial results are released at noon on Wednesday.
Manchester United hopes it will not need to change managers again and believes the team’s statistics have improved this season—despite having won only one of their first four Premier League matches and losing to League Two side Grimsby Town in the EFL Cup.
If Amorim leaves, the early favorites with bookmakers include his fellow Portuguese national Marco Silva of Fulham, Oliver Glasner of Crystal Palace, Unai Emery of Aston Villa, and Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth.
