Ruben Amorim stood in front of the Italian media on Monday and basically said the quiet part out loud. The new AC Milan manager admitted that after getting sacked by Manchester United in January, he told himself he needed to find a smaller challenge next time. Then he went and signed with one of the most demanding clubs in European soccer.
“I promised myself, after the last one, that I’d choose a smaller challenge,” Amorim said, shifting to English for that part. “But I’m here, it’s even a bigger one. I’m really proud to be here.”
The honesty is rare. Most coaches show up to a new job and talk about how the history of the club and the ambition of the project drew them in. Amorim basically said he tried to talk himself into something easier and failed. He’s replacing Massimiliano Allegri at Milan, a club that expects to compete for Serie A titles and make noise in the Champions League. That is not a smaller challenge.
What went wrong at United
Amorim’s 14 months at Old Trafford were a disaster by almost any measure. He finished 15th in the Premier League in his first season, the lowest in United’s modern history. He also lost the Europa League final to Tottenham. The club backed him with significant spending last summer, and for a few weeks early this season things looked like they might turn around. Then came the 3-1 loss to Brentford, and the whole thing unraveled again.
Behind the scenes, tensions with director of football Jason Wilcox over tactics and January transfer targets made his position untenable. United fired him in January and handed the job to Michael Carrick, who steadied the ship, finished third, and got United back into the Champions League. Carrick got the job permanently in May.
Amorim now holds the worst win rate of any United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. That is a brutal stat to carry into your next job, but Milan is betting he can reset.
He still plans to win
To his credit, Amorim didn’t try to downplay expectations at San Siro. He said in Italian that he’s honored to be the coach of Milan. Then he made it clear the goal hasn’t changed, even if the job is bigger than he wanted.
“Yes, of course. You cannot come to Milan without that mentality,” he said when asked if he intends to win. “I’m not naive; I know that we have a lot to do. If you are a Milan coach, you have to play to win.”
That’s the kind of line that will play well with the fans. But the reality is that Amorim is still trying to rebuild a reputation that took a serious hit in Manchester. He’s a talented coach who looked overwhelmed at United, partly because the club was a mess structurally and partly because he never quite figured out how to make his system work in the Premier League.
Maybe Milan is the right place for a reset. The culture is different, the pressure is intense but maybe more familiar to a Portuguese coach who cut his teeth at Benfica and Braga. Or maybe he just walked into another situation where the expectations are higher than the roster can deliver.
Either way, he’s not pretending he planned it this way.
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