West Ham were expected to make Ruben Amorim their new manager earlier this year, but now the truth has been revealed as to why the deal fell through.
The Portuguese spoke with the Hammers about replacing David Moyes, but ultimately the deal didn’t go through, with the 39-year-old now expected to join Man United as the replacement for Erik ten Hag.
It was believed that the reason why Amorim didn’t end up moving to the London Stadium was a financial one, but as the Daily Mail report, that wasn’t the case.
The reason West Ham turned Ruben Amorim down
Although the football under David Moyes had become turgid and often unwatchable if you were a fan of the club, he at least had the requisite English top-flight experience.
That goes some way to explaining why the club plumped for Julen Lopetegui in the end, given that he had previously worked with the Spanish national team and Real Madrid to name just two.
Amorim’s lack of experience in Europe’s top five leagues is what, apparently, counted against him.
As the Red Devils will be aware, for all of the positive noises surrounding the potential appointment of Amorim, the elephant in the room is that he’s never managed outside of Portugal.
A brief stint during his playing career in the Qatari Stars League was the only time he sought employment outside of his own country.
That has to be the elephant in the room as far as INEOS are concerned, and depending how Amorim gets on at the Theatre of Dreams, West Ham’s decision will either be shown to have been a master stroke, or the complete opposite.
Arguably, had Lopetegui hit the ground running with the Hammers, there wouldn’t be an issue in any case, but three wins in nine Premier League games thus far shows that things haven’t gone to plan.