Ruben Amorim would reportedly give the green light to Manchester United using his buy-back clause for Benfica full-back Alvaro Carreras.

Although Amorim has been named Man Utd’s new head coach, rather than coach (meaning he won’t have as much control over recruitment as his predecessors), the Portuguese tactician could help in the current pursuit of former academy product Carreras. .

Manchester United sold racing to Benfica in May after a loan spell that began in January, but they inserted a €20m (£16.8m/$21.8m) buyback clause into the deal, which could be useful considering that his release clause for other clubs is worth 50 million euros. (£42.1m/$54.4m).

A recent update of Give me sport have confirmed that Man Utd are still monitoring Carreras in case they decide to bring him back to Old Trafford, and Amorim’s appointment is likely to only increase their chances of making a move.

In fact, since Carreras joined Benfica in January, Amorim has been aware of his progress while coaching Sporting. Therefore, it is not only Manchester United’s scouts who have been keeping an eye on Carreras, but also their incoming head coach.

Amorim prefers a back three formation that will place greater emphasis on the full-backs, but on the left side he may have doubts about the durability of Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia after their injury problems in recent years.

And although directors such as Dan Ashworth have more say in Man Utd’s transfers in their new sporting structure, the new head coach’s comments on how Carreras could fit into their set-up are expected to provide further justification behind a possible withdrawal, for a player who was never able to come off the bench for his senior debut in his first spell at Man Utd.

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Carreras has not yet played against Amorim

Benfica and Sporting have yet to meet this season, but they did so three times in the second half of last season (once in the League and twice in the Cup) after Carreras arrived in Portugal.

Curiously, Carreras remained an unused substitute for Benfica on all those occasions. He has therefore never played against Amorim’s team, and will not do so before the Sporting boss officially joins Man Utd later this month.

However, his 29 appearances for Benfica so far against other teams have attracted attention in Portugal and Amorim obviously does not go unnoticed.

And the situation is under Man Utd’s control thanks to their success in securing a buy-back clause for the 21-year-old, for whom they have also arranged loan spells at Preston North End and Granada in the past.

Carreras has also been linked with other clubs recently, including Real Madrid – whose academy he left to join Man Utd first in 2020 – as well as Barcelona and even Liverpoolbut as stated, any of them would be quoted a higher price than Man Utd can recover.

As things stand, Carreras has a contract with Benfica until 2029.

Who will be Amorim’s first signing?

Benfica have no power to reject a €20 million offer from Manchester United, meaning that if the Red Devils put that money on the table in January, Carreras could become the first signing since Amorim took over.

However, there have been plenty of other Man Utd transfer rumors recently about other players who could be on Ashworth’s radar.

For example, TEAMtalk has learned that Amorim would be in favor of three Sporting players following him to Old Trafford: Gonçalo Inacio, Marcus Edwards and Pedro Gonçalves.

There has also been links with another Sporting defenderwhile the prolific striker of the Lisbon team Viktor Gyokeres commented on his chances of following in Amorim’s footsteps.

It must also be remembered that Carreras is not the only left-back that Manchester United has been linked with. Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is an ambitious option, but he is more likely to sign for Real Madrid in 2025 and a more realistic target for Man Utd could be Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell. with the reasons for your preference emerging.

How would Carreras fit under Amorim?

As stated, Amorim is likely to emulate the 3-4-3 system he used with Sporting once he inherits the Man Utd squad.

Left-back is one of the main areas that could use an upgrade to suit their system, and Shaw, the usual first choice, is yet to feature this season. Malacia has not played since the second to last season.

Firstly, Carreras would fit more naturally at left-back than anyone who has had to fill in there recently. He is left-footed to boot and 97.5% of his career appearances have been as a left-back or left-back.

While it should be noted that Benfica use a back four formation under Bruno Lage, Carreras’ previous experience when he was still being guided by Manchester United could have given him the understanding he needs to play in a setup like the by Amorim. .

In fact, when he played for Preston in the 2022-23 season, Ryan Lowe’s team regularly used Carreras as a full-back in front of three defenders. In fact, 27 of his 42 appearances for Preston came as a full-back.

He also occasionally played a similar role for Granada, so he should be able to catch up with how Amorim wants his wide defenders to play, even if his record of one goal and nine appearances in 85 appearances in his senior career would not. suggest that he has been the most offensive full-back so far.