Sporting have confirmed that Manchester United have approached them for head coach Ruben Amorim.
They've said the Premier League club have expressed an interest in paying the £8.3million termination clause in his contract.
United have quickly settled on the 39-year-old as their number one choice to replace Erik ten Hag, who was sacked on Monday.
Ten Hag departs with the club sat 14th in the Premier League table after Sunday's 2-1 defeat to West Ham - their fourth loss of the current top-flight campaign.
In a statement, United said: "We are grateful to Erik for everything he has done during his time with us and wish him well for the future."
Interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy will be "supported by the current coaching team, whilst a permanent head coach is recruited", but it appears that move will happen quickly.
Ten Hag guided United to both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup in his two full seasons at the club but his time at Old Trafford was surrounded by constant noise about his future.
It looked like he would lose his job at the end of last season yet victory at Wembley over rivals Manchester City saw him stay on following a review of football operations.
While success arrived in domestic cups, United were unable to build towards a Premier League title charge.
They finished third in Ten Hag's first season but followed that up by ending 8th in 2023/24. After nine games of the current campaign, they already trail leaders City by 12 points.
They'd spent big in their pursuit of glory too.
Ten Hag oversaw the arrivals of Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee for a combined £184million this summer alone.
Amorim set for United move
In a statement to Portugal’s financial regulator, the CMVM, Sporting gave notice to investors of the approach from United, and signalled an expectation that a deal is likely to be completed.
“Manchester United FC has expressed an interest in hiring coach Ruben Amorim, with the Board of Directors of Sporting SAD referring to the terms and conditions set out in the employment contract in force between the Company and the coach, specifically the respective termination clause and the amount of Euro 10,000,000.00,” the statement said.
“Manchester United FC has expressed an interest in paying Sporting SAD the amount of the aforementioned clause.”
His spell in Portugal has delivered two top-flight titles as well as two domestic cups, with a staggering 71.8% win ratio returned from 237 games at the helm.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
