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Inside the mind of The Special One - Mk II: Europe's most-wanted manager Ruben Amorim is now Man United's No 1 choice to replace Erik ten Hag... and he loves trash-talking just like his idol Jose Mourinho

Related Topics: José Mourinho

Madness.

That was the word that filled the conversations and the back pages when Sporting Clube De Portugal announced they were taking a risk on a young coach from Braga, only four years ago.

Why had the capital club, one of Portugal's Big Three along with Porto and Lisbon rivals Benfica, paid more than €10million in compensation, at the time the third-highest fee ever paid for a manager, for a 35-year-old with less than six months of top-level experience? Welcome to the fast lane, Ruben Amorim.

Back then, the outrage was led by Portuguese football icon Luis Figo, who acknowledged that the Jose Alvalade Stadium had often been a graveyard for managers and dubbed the decision to hire rookie Amorim as 'loucura'.