Pedro Porro has wished his former manager Ruben Amorim well at Manchester United and expects him to breathe confidence into their squad. The Tottenham full-back was managed by Amorim for three seasons at Sporting.
The Spaniard made 98 appearances under the Portuguese coach and produced 12 goals and 20 assists. Such performance earned him a £40million switch to Spurs in January last year.
And now Porro will be joined by Amorim in the Premier League. The coach is leaving Liga Portugal leaders Sporting to replace Erik ten Hag as the new Man United manager from next Monday (November 11).
It is a move which the defender hopes goes well for his old boss, even though he is joining one of Spurs' rivals for the Champions League spots.
Porro had previously labelled Amorim "a great coach" and said: "I have nothing but good things to say about him." And speaking after Spurs' 4-1 defeat of Aston Villa, he added: "He's coming to one of the best stages in the world, the Premier League.
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"So I wish him the best and hope things go as well as possible for him. The confidence he gave me was fundamental for me, and that's why, when I arrived at Sporting, things went well for me.
"Apart from him, the style of play also suited me well." Porro won the Portuguese title and two Taca de Liga trophies during his time working under Amorim, whose side face Manchester City in the Champions League this midweek.
The 39-year-old coach arrives at Old Trafford to take over a team 13th in the Premier League table after 10 games. The Red Devils already trail leaders Liverpool by 12 points and are six adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea, who they drew 1-1 with on Sunday.
Sky Sports pundit and former United defender Gary Neville wants Amorim to make several changes when he takes over next Monday. Interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy will oversee another two games before then.
"It was sober reading about how high Manchester United play up the pitch," Neville said. "When I looked at the average start distance of the teams up the pitch, Manchester City are first, Arsenal second, Liverpool third, Tottenham fourth and Brighton are fifth. Manchester United are down in 10th.
"If you want to push your defence up the pitch, which is what I think every team looks to do nowadays, Amorim has got to start with that because Manchester United quite often have to travel 70, 80 yards to score a goal because they're so deep and they play like the underdog in games.
"The other metric was possession one in the final third. So possession won high up the pitch: first was Manchester City, second was Tottenham, third was Arsenal and fourth was Liverpool. Manchester United are ninth.
"The final one I asked for was the highest turnovers. City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal made up the top four while Manchester United were ninth. These three things are critical to performance levels.
"Man Utd played like a team that is sat behind the ball. 'Let's try and get them on the counter or score from a set piece'. That's got to change.
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"You've got to be a team of dominance. And I mean dominance. I mean dominating the ball in the final third, dominating your forwards and staying high up the pitch.
Spurs' Porro also revealed that he will donate some of his £66,000-a-week wages towards the Spain relief fund after terrifying flash foods hit the country.
"I'd be the first one there to help, to show up, but I'm in London, I have competitions, so I can't," the Spanish international said. "I've already spoken to my agents and I'm going to donate part of my salary to cover whatever they need to buy shovels, food... anything they need."
He added on social media of the Villa win: "Big result. I want to dedicate today's win to all those who are currently suffering in Valencia at this extremely difficult time. You are in all of our prayers."