Ruben Amorim and his backroom team have touched down in England as they begin a new chapter at Manchester United.
Amorim was joined by his five assistants on a 10:45am GMT flight from Beja in Portugal to Manchester Airport on Monday.
The new United head coach, who was hidden from cameras as he was driven out of the airport, was due to speak with Ruud van Nistelrooy on Monday to inform the Dutchman whether he intends to keep him on as part of his backroom team. The club later confirmed the Dutchman had left his role.
Joining Amorim at the Red Devils will be five key staff from Sporting Lisbon: assistant manager Carlos Fernandes, assistant coaches Adelio Candido and Emanuel Ferro, goalkeeper coach Jorge Vital and sports scientist Paulo Barreira.
Here, Standard Sport takes a closer look at the five new men joining Amorim in the United dugout…
Carlos Fernandes, assistant manager
The 29-year-old is expected to join as Amorim’s assistant manager, having had that role at Sporting.
Speaking in February 2022, Amorim explained: “My number two is Carlos Fernandes. He’s been my right-hand man right from day one.
“He’ll be a much better coach than me. I often say if I become Bobby Robson, then he’ll be my Jose Mourinho! But there’s plenty of time, we’ve signed a 15-year deal!”
The pair met at Benfica when Amorim was still a player. Fernandes has been assisting Amorim ever since the new United had coach gave him a coaching role in his first managerial job with Portuguese side Casa Pia.
Adelio Candido, assistant coach
Candido was a youth coach within the Casa Pia academy when Amorim and Fernandes became manager and assistant manager of the lower-league Portuguese club in 2018.
Like Fernandes, Candido then followed Amorim to Braga in 2019 and again at Sporting when Amorim became their new head coach in 2020.
Eight first-team players in United’s squad are older than Candido, with Amorim’s trusted assistant coach just 28 years old.
Emanuel Ferro, assistant coach
Lisbon-born Ferro has worked for two of Portugal’s biggest clubs, starting his coaching career not with Sporting but as an academy coach with Benfica at the turn of the millennium.
After short spells managing in Malaysia and Tunisia between 2013 and 2015, Ferro returned to Portugal to coach in the Sporting youth set-up, and he has been there ever since. Aged 45, he now joins Amorim, Fernandes and Candido through the door at United.
Jorge Vital, goalkeeper coach
The 63-year-old started working with Amorim at Braga, before moving with him to Sporting in 2020.
Vital enjoyed a 20-year playing career as a goalkeeper between 1981 and 2001, during which time he represented the likes of Portuguese top-tier side Gil Vicente.
The 63-year-old, who is believed to be a specialist in distribution, has called time on his second spell as Sporting’s goalkeeper coach in order to take on the role at Manchester United.
Paulo Barreira, sports scientist
An ex-Liverpool physio under Brendan Rodgers who was also a PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University, Barreira joins United as a sports scientist.
He completed his scholarship from John Moores in 2017 with a thesis on hamstring injury prevention.
Formerly employed behind the scenes by United’s Premier League rivals Arsenal, he was into his fifth season as Sporting’s sports scientist and injury expert when he agreed to join Amorim at Old Trafford.
