Ruben Amorim's camp break silence on Man Utd sacking as clear dig aimed

A former assistant manager of Ruben Amorim at Manchester United has spoken out about the Portuguese's sacking as head coach.

Amorim was sacked by United on January 5, the day after a 1-1 draw away to bitter rivals Leeds at Elland Road.

In his final post-match press conference in the role, Amorim said that he had joined United to be 'manager, not the coach' - in what was an apparent dig at director of football Jason Wilcox.

The Guardian reported that the 41-year-old had expected United to back him in the January transfer window should potential targets be available, before the situation changed.

At the time of his sacking, Amorim had won just 24 of his 63 matches in charge of the club - giving him the third-lowest win ratio of any permanent manager in United's history.

United were fifth in the Premier League, having won three of their last 11 matches.

Since Michael Carrick took interim charge of the club as Amorim's replacement, they have climbed to third place after a superb run of six wins in seven matches.

The Daily Mail claimed last month, via 'well-placed sources in Portugal', that Amorim would not address his United departure until the end of the season as to not cause a distraction away from their Champions League qualification pursuit.

But one of his assistant coaches, Adelio Candido, has now spoken out in a new interview with Portuguese outlet A Bola.

Adelio Candido was one of Ruben Amorim's assistants at Manchester United (Image: Getty)

The 29-year-old, who was assistant to Amorim at Braga and Sporting before joining him at United, claims that the coaching staff had 'the feeling that our ideas weren't fully implemented' while at Old Trafford.

"Experience is always experience, whether the outcome is good or bad, we always come away with learning," Candido said.

"In Manchester, I really liked the city and the way the fans experience football, more focused on the project than on the immediate result.

"What I liked least was, without a doubt, feeling that our ideas weren't fully implemented.

"I think the fact that we were young helped us deal with the pressure; we always had a positive daily routine at work.

"With the existing pressure, it's normal for people to get more annoyed than usual in a technical team, and that wasn't the case for us.

"Only the future will tell if leaving was bad for our careers or not."

Ruben Amorim next job rumours

Amorim has been out of management since his United departure (Image: Getty)

Amorim reportedly received a payoff of around £10 million following his United sacking, meaning he has time to plan out his next move.

According to Brazilian outlet supervasco.com, the Portuguese boss is being lined up to take over at Brazilian giants Vasco da Gama.

Vasco won the Copa Libertadores title in 1998 and were runners-up in the inaugural Club World Cup held in 2000, but have been less successful over recent years.

ESPN, meanwhile, report that Amorim is a leading candidate to take over at Benfica if, as is claimed as a possibility, Jose Mourinho leaves the club after the 2026 World Cup to coach the Portugal national team for the first time in his career.