Ruben Amorim has been sacked by Manchester United for two months now, and he is still generating headlines without managing a single match.
The Portuguese coach, relieved of his duties in January after just 14 months and the worst win rate of any permanent United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, has been photographed in Lisbon playing padel with Hugo Viana.
Viana is Manchester City’s sporting director. He is also one of Amorim’s oldest friends in football, having played alongside him at Braga and later appointed him as Sporting CP manager.
The padel club, Padel Expo, posted the image on social media with playful self-awareness. “We tried to contact you to strengthen our coaching staff, but it wasn’t to be this time!” the caption read.
The photograph spread instantly across football media, and the speculation it generated says more about how Amorim’s story has captivated people than about any actual transfer news.
“I’ve always been very grateful for everything Ruben did,” former United forward Matheus Cunha said in a recent DAZN interview. “He was an incredible person.”
Amorim’s time at Old Trafford ended badly — friction with sporting director Jason Wilcox, a press conference after a 1-1 draw with Leeds that read as a public attack on the hierarchy, and a swift £12 million exit.
His 38.1% win rate and a system so rigid he once said “not even the Pope” could convince him to change it became the defining image of a reign that never quite found its footing.
The Viana connection has naturally sparked speculation about a future at City, particularly given Pep Guardiola’s long goodbye. But there is no substance to those rumours whatsoever.
More credible is a potential return to Portugal. Reports in Lisbon have linked Amorim to Benfica, where Jose Mourinho’s future remains uncertain, and that particular narrative carries genuine logic.
For now, though, he is simply a man playing padel with a friend in the sun. After eighteen months in Manchester, that is probably exactly what he needs.
