The Manchester United squad has already been surprised by Ruben Amorim, with his age taking some of them aback, according to Manuel Ugarte.
The Sporting boss is just 39 years old but has already developed a glowing reputation in management and won two league titles with the Portuguese side.
After dismissing Erik ten Hag the Red Devils moved pretty quickly to get hold of Amorim as his permanent replacement and a deal has been agreed, with the young manager set to take charge on 11 November.
That leaves some time for United to continue with interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy in charge and for the squad to ask questions about their incoming boss.
Naturally they have gone to Ugarte with their queries as the Uruguayan played under Amorim at Sporting from 2021-23 before moving on to Paris Saint-Germain.
The combative midfielder reveals that they obviously hadn’t Googled their new manager before asking him as they were most surprised about his age.
‘My teammates have asked a lot about him. What surprised them was his age,’ Ugarte told DAZN.
‘He’s also very hungry to win and that’s very important. I can tell he’ll enjoy it.’
He added on his teammates’ reaction to the appointment: ‘It’s positive, mainly because the club needs to start building a path, which is important, and the coach will be key to that.’
The 23-year-old expects Amorim to do well in his new role, but has warned fans to keep their expectations in check at first as there will certainly be a bedding in period.
‘I saw that Sporting fans were upset and that’s understandable, because the coach is a great coach,’ he said. ‘It’s good for United, we have to take advantage of it and get him to convey his ideas as quickly as possible.
‘I think it’s going to be a different dynamic and the day-to-day will be similar to Sporting’s. The league, the country, the football… It’s a big challenge for him but we all know he has the ability.’
Amorim is now in the quite unusual situation of being in charge of Sporting for two more games before taking over at Old Trafford.
The first of those two contests is against Manchester City in the Champions League on Tuesday night in Lisbon.
On what that game will mean to United supporters, he said: ‘My focus is on winning the match for Sporting.
‘The conclusions are not important for me because they could be erroneous. If we win tomorrow they will think the new Alex Ferguson has arrived. That will be very difficult.’
