'I played for Liverpool and Ruben Amorim - here's what Man Utd should expect'

Manchester United has . The Portuguese coach .

The Portuguese will arrive in Manchester having spent four years and eight months in charge of Sporting Lisbon, where he has made his name as one of the best young managers in Europe. For much of that time, had former defender Sebastian Coates in his squad.

Coates, who left Sporting earlier this year to rejoin Uruguayan side Nacional, spoke highly of Amorim during an interview. In the interview, Coates was asked what makes Amorim such an effective manager. He told A Bola: "He says what he thinks, the truth. But in a certain way, as he was a player until recently and understands this in a different way, he knows how to reach the players better. And how to prepare for the game against your rivals."

Coates also gave an insight into Amorim's preference for a back-three system, suggesting that the defender that is chosen to play in the middle of the three will likely be asked to sit in a deeper position than the left-sided center-back and the right-sided center-back.

The 34-year-old was still playing for Sporting at the time the interview took place, and was asked whether the system helped him as a player. He said: "Yes it does help me.. Because I'm in the middle, looking at the entire field, and I have to cover the other players. I'm not the one who has to go out to face opponents, move wider. Fortunately it's going well."

Liverpool signed Coates from Nacional in 2011, and he remained on the Reds' books until 2015, when he signed for Sunderland on a permanent deal. Coates found game time similarly hard to come by in the North East and left in 2017 to join Sporting, where he undoubtedly enjoyed the best period of his career.

Coates played under five separate managers at Sporting, and said that Amorim was the one who brought the best out of him. He added: "Nowadays, on the field, I help in a different way than when I arrived here. I arrived here with just a few minutes of play, with no space in England, but it was almost a start again, to play again, today it's different because of the experience, certain moments of the game trying to defend in a different way. The manager has great merit for this."

The noise coming out of Portugal is all positive regarding Amorim's credentials, but only time will tell whether he has what it takes to stop the rot at Old Trafford.