Ruben Amorim refused to talk about his future at Sporting Lisbon as Manchester United opened discussions with the Portuguese over becoming their next permanent manager.
The 39-year-old is considering the opportunity to replace Erik ten Hag with United willing to negotiate with Sporting over Amorim’s release fee of €10m (£8.3m).
There has been considerable progress in early talks, to the point that Amorim’s coaching staff has been discussed, but United want an answer from him by the weekend.
United’s football operations department have put the 39-year-old top of their list, having not considered him when they spoke to potential replacements for Ten Hag over the summer.
Amorim was previously a target for Liverpool and Barcelona, and his impressive work at Sporting has seen him been tipped as a potential successor to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
Sporting play Nacional in the quarter-finals of the Taca de Liga cup on Tuesday night, and Amorim appeared at a press conference on Monday – hours after Ten Hag was sacked.
He was asked out the vacancy at Manchester United but refused to discuss another job out of respect for Sporting, who he is reluctant to leave mid-season.
Sporting have a 100 per cent record in the league this season and are course to win a third league title under Amorim.
“I was expecting that question and obviously I am not going to talk about my future,” he said when asked about the United job.
“I am not going to speak about my future because no matter what I say I’d have to always talk about it.
“Since the first day, I said it was not worthy to ask about it and I am not going to make any comments about my future.”
United are said to be cautiously optimistic that a deal can be done before the weekend, with Ruud van Nistelrooy taking charge on a short-term interim basis.
In April, Amorim apologised to Sporting fans after flying to London to hold talks with West Ham after replacing David Moyes.
He admitted to meeting with West Ham and apologised for making a “mistake”, with Liverpool instead opting for Arne Slot to replace Jurgen Klopp.
Barcelona, Juventus and Bayern Munich were also linked with Amorim but they all went in different directions too and appointed Hansi Flick, Thiago Motta and Vincent Kompany respectively.
Amorim had been rumoured as a potential replacement for Guardiola, who is out of contact at the end of the season.
City are appointing Sporting’s director of football Hugo Viana as Txiki Begiristain’s successor at the end of the season.