Portuguese sports lawyer explains what’s going on with Rúben Amorim to Manchester United

Sporting Club de Portugal may be demanding that Ruben Amorim pay his release clause, something which would hold up his arrival at Manchester United.

That’s according to sports law lawyer David Bastos, who has been speaking to SIC Noticias about why Amorim may be holding back on confirming his move to Old Trafford.

Amorim is expected to be named as Manchester United’s replacement for Erik ten Hag in the coming days after the Dutchman was sacked earlier this week.

Talks for the Portuguese coach’s signature have been rapidly advancing over the last 24 hours, with a Manchester United delegation in Lisbon working on the deal.

They’ve have already told Sporting that they will pay the release clause to sign Amorim and the Portuguese stock exchange have been informed of this by the club.

That was seen as the last major hurdle to Amorim’s arrival at Manchester United, but the Sporting coach refused to confirm of deny his exit last night when questioned by journalists.

Bastos has now explained why that may be the case, detailing how the intricacies of release clauses around managers and players may be keeping Amorim silent.

“Despite all the information that is conveyed by the media in relation to this aspect of the termination clause, the truth is that to analyse the specific case, it would be important to know the exact terms in which this clause is written, namely who has the right to exercise this termination clause,” he said.

“It is very common for this faculty to assist only the worker or, in this case, the coach and, therefore, to this extent it would formally have to be the coach who pays the termination fine.

“What then, on a practical level, happens is that the club would transfer the amount to the coach’s account and the coach would make this money reach Sporting, naturally fulfilling all legal and tax obligations.

“What often happens is to avoid this formality, particularly when it falls on a worker, the coach in this case, is that clubs, to avoid this formality, establish an agreement or negotiate an agreement for amounts equivalent to or close to the clause, therefore, to facilitate this process.”