Ruben Amorim is likely to give the green light to Manchester United using his buyout clause for Benfica full-back Alvaro Carreras, according to reports.

Although Amorim has been named Man Utd’s new head coach rather than manager – meaning he won’t have as much control over recruitment as his predecessors – the Portuguese tactician could help them continue their quest to win. Former Carreras academy product.

Man Utd sold Carreras to Benfica in May after a loan spell that began in January, but they inserted a €20m (£16.8m/$21.8m) buyout clause into the deal – which could prove useful given his release clause to other clubs is worth €50m (£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, with Amorim’s appointment only increasing their chances of making a move.

Indeed, since Carreras joined Benfica in January, Amorim has been aware of his progress while coaching Sporting. So, it’s not just Man Utd’s scouts who are keeping an eye on Carreras, but also their new head coach.

Amorim favors a three-back formation which will place more 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 while directors like Dan Ashworth have more say over Man Utd’s moves into their new sporting structure, the new head coach’s comments on how Carreras could fit into his set-up should provide further justification behind a possible recall, for a player who was never able to come off the bench for his senior debut during his first spell at Man Utd.

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Carreras has not yet played against Amorim

Benfica and Sporting have yet to face each other 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.

Interestingly, Carreras remained an unused substitute for Benfica on all of these occasions. As a result, he has never actually played against Amorim’s side, and won’t until the Sporting boss officially joins Man Utd later this month.

Still, his 29 appearances for Benfica so far against other teams have attracted attention in Portugal and Amorim is obviously not oblivious.

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 in 2020 – as well as Barcelona and even Liverpoolbut as noted, any of them would be offered a higher price than Man Utd are able to fetch him for.

As things stand, Carreras is under contract with Benfica until 2029.

Who will be the first to sign Amorim?

Benfica do not have the power to reject a €20m offer from Man Utd, meaning if the Red Devils put that money on the table in January, Carreras could become the first signing since Amorim took orders.

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

For example, TEAMtalk learned that Amorim would be in favor of three Sporting players following him at Old Trafford: namely Goncalo Inacio, Marcus Edwards and Pedro Goncalves.

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

It’s also worth remembering that Carreras isn’t the only left-back Man Utd have been linked with. Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies is an ambitious option, but he could be 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 their preference emerging.

How would Carreras fit in under Amorim?

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

Left-back is one of the main areas that could need an upgrade to fit into his system, with Shaw, the usual first choice, yet to feature this season. Malacia hasn’t played since the penultimate season.

Firstly, Carreras would be a more natural fit at left-back than anyone else who has had to fill in recently. He is left-footed to start with and 97.5% of his career appearances have come as a left-back or left-back.

While it should be noted that Benfica use a four-man formation behind Bruno Lage, Carreras’ previous experience while still guided by Man Utd could have given him the understanding he needs to play in a setup like that of ‘Amorim. .

Indeed, when he played for Preston in the 2022-23 season, Ryan Lowe’s side regularly deployed Carreras as a winger in front of a back three. In fact, 27 of his 42 appearances for Preston were as a winger.

He has also occasionally played a similar role for Granada, so he should be able to familiarize himself with the way Amorim wants their full-backs to play – although his record of one goal and nine appearances from 85 appearances during his senior career would not. suggest he has been the most attacking full-back to date.