Ruben Amorim had star shipped off to Bulgaria on loan after he rubbed him up the wrong way – Man Utd flops must beware

IF Manchester United players cross Ruben Amorim, they risk the same fate as Gaius Makouta.

Who is Gaius Makouta? Precisely…

To be fair to the Congolese midfielder, he has had quite a career at Boavista and now Alanyaspor in Turkey.

But only after Amorim gave him a short, sharp shock.

Makouta paid the fine for wrong-footing Amorim when the new Manchester United boss took over as manager of Braga's B team in September 2019.

Goncalo Ferreira was head of communications at Braga and witnessed Amorim's incredible rise.

But when Ferreira came to watch the new B team boss's first match, he expressed his concerns to club president Antonio Salvador.

Ferreira said: “Makouta was one of the best players, but when I arrived at the stadium and saw the team warming up, Makouta was not on the pitch.

“I said, 'What happened?' and the president said, 'Let's see.' Braga won 5-0.

“Already during the first training sessions it became clear that Makouta was not satisfied because he wanted to be in the first team.

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“So he wasn't the best in training; he had quality, but didn't give everything.

“I realized that players who are not 100 percent in solidarity with the team will not play for Ruben. He doesn't care about their status.

“Makouta was eventually loaned to a club in Bulgaria.”

Amorim won seven of his first eight matches leading the Braga B team.

That was enough to convince Salvador to part ways with first-team head coach Ricardo Sa Pinto and install Amorim instead.

The first top-flight game of his managerial career came at Belenenses, where he was a player and a team battling at the bottom of the table, like United's opponents on Sunday, Ipswich.

Amorim immediately left his mark on Braga by making six changes and switching to three at the back.

Ferreira said: “It took courage to bench some of the players he dropped.

“There was a big, immediate difference in the energy of the team. We had the feeling that they wanted to kill the opposition.

“Braga won 7-1. Those kinds of results are not normal in the Portuguese league.

“He will not put the players on the bench, but in the stands. You'll see from the first game that he doesn't think the boys are humble or part of the team.”

Ferreira believes Amorim's selection for the Ipswich clash will reveal whether he has found Gaius Makouta's in United's ranks.

“I've read some things about training at United and how many players weren't doing their best. Maybe they didn't like the former coach.

“Ruben was a player, so he can feel who belongs to the team and who doesn't.”

Those who find favor with Amorim can expect success.

After the defeat of Belenenses, Braga defeated Porto in the league and then in the League Cup final.

The next big scalp was Sporting Lisbon before Braga won a league match at Benfica for the first time since 1954.

Amorim had only been in charge of Braga for thirteen games when Sporting agreed to trigger his £8.4 million release clause to make him their new boss.

Ferreira, now boss of agency Global Take Over, said: “I was very sad, like every Braga director, player, staff member and fan.

“It was Braga's best six months in terms of energy and growth. There is a before and after Ruben in Braga.”

And, one suspects, a before and after Amorim in Gaius Makouta's career.