Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim makes special request to board after horror campaign

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is reportedly keen to bring in his trusted ally Acacio Valentim as part of his coaching team at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese boss, who replaced Erik ten Hag after moving from Sporting Lisbon, led the Red Devils to a disappointing 14th place finish in the Premier League and suffered defeat in the Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur.

Ahead of his second season in charge, Amorim has asked United's hierarchy to approach Valentim, according to Portuguese publication Record. Talks are said to be underway regarding his move to the UK.

Valentim, 49, previously worked with Amorim at Braga and is currently a free agent after leaving the Portuguese club this summer. His potential arrival would mark another change behind the scenes since Amorim took over, with several members of Ten Hag's former staff, including Ruud van Nistelrooy, having already departed.

Set piece coach Andreas Georgson was initially kept on but appeared to have taken on a new role after Amorim confirmed that his assistant Carlos Fernandes was now leading set piece planning.

After locking horns with Arsenal, Amorim explained the change: "The thinking is Carlos is responsible for set pieces, different stuff. Andreas is also there to help. That's it. That's the reason.

"I think if you follow Premier League for a long time you can see that they (Arsenal) are also big players for that. And you can see it in every occasion that (Bukayo) Saka and (Gabriel) Martinelli has one against one, a lot of times they go outside and cross. They already know if the cross is going well, they can score. If it's a corner, they can score.

"So we have to be better on that situation but like in every area of our game we need time to improve also. But you can see in all Arsenal games every team has a problem with that."

In May, Georgson eventually vacated his position, while a number of other key backroom staff have also left Old Trafford over recent weeks.