New Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim turned down pub trips with Barclaysmen strikers Benjani & Gabriel Agbonlahor during rapid rise to top of European football

Agbonlahor, who scored 85 goals for Aston Villa between 2006 and 2018, said that throughout the coaching course, Amorim was there to learn, and would rarely “be seen after 8pm, when the course finished”.

Amorim was on the fast-track coaching course after he was suspended from his managerial post at Casa Pia, where it was discovered he did not have advanced enough qualifications to be managing in Portugal’s third tier. According to Agbonlahor, he was “desperate for qualifications”, and said that when it came to setting up coaching drills, Amorim turned up completely prepared.

On the coaching course with Amorim and Agbonlahor were a host of former Premier League players, including Lee Cattermole, Craig Gardner, Benjani and Chris Samba. While the Ex-Villa forward and his fellow Premier League pals went to a nearby Irish pub for a pint once their studying was finished, Amorim had a tendency to stay away, with learning the only thing on his mind.

Speaking on talkSPORT, Agbonlahor said: “He (Amorim) was so into it in a way of, like, he just had to get his badges to then go and start managing. In the coaching sessions, you get all the players, and there are some kids from Belfast academy’s who come over, and he was very focused.”

Agbonlahor then proceeded to praise Amorim’s coaching methods, saying: “Since the start of last season Sporting Lisbon have scored the most goals in the top six leagues, 129 goals. They were waiting 19 years to win a title, he goes there and he’s won two in the last five seasons. And he was at Braga for just two months before Sporting paid €10m for him, the fourth highest fee for a manager of all time.”

With his future at Manchester United now confirmed, Ruben Amorim now has two games in which to say his goodbye’s to the Sporting CP faithful. The first sees them pitched against his future rivals Manchester City in the Champions League, before his final game in charge see’s them face Braga, the club from which Sporting brought him from in the first place. It is a rather poetic ending for Amorim, who leaves with a superb legacy at the club.

For Agbonlahor, many are now waiting to see if he utilises his coaching qualification, but it seems unlikely. Increasingly involved in punditry, Agbonlahor also described the coaching course as “very much a box-ticking thing”.

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