Ruben Amorim sack latest - Man United stance, next job opportunity, pressure verdict

The derby defeat to Manchester City has heaped further pressure on Ruben Amorim's position at Manchester United. United have secured just one victory from their opening four Premier League fixtures this campaign and find themselves languishing in 14th place, with just a single point separating them from the drop zone.

Their displays have faced mounting scrutiny from supporters and pundits alike. Next up is a showdown with Chelsea, and barely a month into the new season, United are already under immense pressure to reverse their fortunes. With this in mind, Express Sport looks at the latest speculation surrounding the Portuguese manager's future at Old Trafford...

What Amorim has said

After the loss to their local rivals City, Amorim remained defiant about sticking to his tactical approach. "It's not a record that you should have in Manchester United," he declared during his post-match media briefing.

"There are a lot of things that you have no idea what happened during these months, but I accept that. But I'm not going to change. When I want to change my philosophy, I will change.

"If not, you have to change the man. So, we'll talk about that every game, every game that we lose. 'I don't believe in that, in the system', or whatever. So, I play my way and I'm going to play my way until I want to change."

Amorim continued: "My message is that I'm going to give everything. I will do everything, always thinking about what is best for the club. That was always the same message. And then, it's not my decision, the rest. So, until I'm here, I will do my best. I really want to win games, so I'm suffering more than them."

Amorim 'eyed' by Portuguese heavyweights

Back in Portugal, Amorim is universally hailed as one of football's finest tacticians, having revived Sporting Clube de Portugal's European credentials and broken their Liga Portugal championship jinx spanning nearly two decades, before replacing Erik ten Hag at United.

Now, Sporting's bitter enemies Benfica are allegedly monitoring his situation in Manchester closely. Benfica are poised to stage presidential elections next month and one contender, Joao Noronha Lopes, supposedly already has Amorim featured on his shortlist of prospective bosses.

Portuguese publication A Bola suggests Lopes and former Portugal striker Nuno Gomes, who is campaigning for vice-president, attended the Etihad Stadium with this in mind. The publication reports that Gomes was questioned during his campaign in Evora about whether Amorim could become Benfica's fresh manager and he apparently hinted that it remained feasible.

A Bola further reveals that Noronha Lopes acknowledged he has prepared terms for Manchester City ace Bernardo Silva in a bid to lure him back to Estadio da Luz. Noronha Lopes and Gomes faced questioning about the latest speculation upon their return to Lisbon.

He revealed: "We went to Manchester to watch the derby, and when we are together, we take the time to have meetings and prepare the future of Benfica. We didn't meet up with Bernardo Silva or Ruben Amorim after the game. I want to bring to Benfica a winning culture, which has talent, dedication and people who know how to win."

When pressed about whether he would welcome Amorim as Benfica boss in the coming months, Noronha Lopes responded: "Ruben is under contract with Manchester United and I won't comment on that."

Meanwhile, Gomes rejected suggestions that their Manchester visit was connected to the United boss. "I don't want to speak about that, I'm a friend of Ruben Amorim, and he has a contract with Manchester United," he stated.

"We watched the game, Joao [Noronha Lopes] is a passionate football fan and I enjoyed this experience with him."

This wasn't the first occasion he had been questioned about Amorim. Last weekend, he declared: "I can't answer that question at the moment but I'm sure that Amorim will be the manager of Benfica, one day."

Man United stance

On Monday, the Manchester Evening News reported that the club hierarchy remains supportive of Amorim despite United's poorest campaign start in 33 years. A source close to Amorim acknowledges it is 'incredible' that his role faces no genuine threat despite 16 losses in the 31 league fixtures. United's manager, Ruben Amorim, 40, is contracted to the club until 2027.

Gary Neville verdict

However, United legend and now pundit Gary Neville has voiced his concerns about the team's future in the coming weeks, given the mounting pressure on Amorim.

"Ruben Amorim is going to come under big pressure, he's going to come under big pressure, Manchester United are 14th in the league," he warned. "It's only a few games in, it's four games in, but next week, if Manchester United lose and they go and they go to 15th or 16th and it's five games in, before you know it we're in October and Manchester United are in the bottom half of the table and that's where they couldn't be, having spent £200 million, with him having a pre-season.

"They might be seventh, eighth, ninth, they could be in those types of positions, but they can't be in the bottom half of the table, so there's got to be a turnaround pretty quickly, and the manager's idea has got to land very quickly with the players. I'm not saying here today that there's any suggestion that the players have downed tools on him, they've not, but they're struggling a little bit, they're struggling, they're struggling against Burnley at home, they're struggling against Fulham away in large parts, they're struggling at Grimsby, they struggled here today. They're struggling with it, they're struggling to find rhythm, to find tempo, to find performance levels.

"I was really heartened by the first game of the season against Arsenal. I thought it was a really good performance, but maybe that was that they'd had a good pre-season. Maybe now Cunha gets injured, Mount gets injured, the old wounds are starting to open up, and I'm worried. I'm worried about the manager, worried about what's going to happen in this next few weeks. I don't think it's a time for panic, but I've seen this before. We've seen this film."