Amorim faces his past as Gyokeres battles with Sesko

Ruben Amorim has spent £200m on a new forward line.

- RICHARD JOLLY SENIOR FOOTBALL CORRESPONDENT

He will see the player who may be the greatest advertisement for his management on the pitch today. Just not in a Manchester United shirt. Amorim's alchemy is not apparent in Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo or Matheus Cunha. Not yet, anyway. But a reunion with the Arsenal debutant Viktor Gyokeres provides a comparison with Sesko, the striker he did purchase this summer. For both clubs, really, given that Arsenal's choice boiled down to the Slovenian and the Swede. They opted for the man transformed into one of Europe's hottest properties by Amorim.

For United, it is an assessment of a centre-forward who has spent a week working with Amorim against one who had 16 months under his tutelage. Gyokeres scored 65 goals for the Portuguese coach in a season and a third at Sporting CP. Without that, Sesko's bow at Old Trafford today could have been for Arsenal.

It wasn't a direct choice between the two for United. Amorim admires Gyokeres but they always felt his preference was to go to Arsenal. They concentrated on attainable targets. And so, instead of briefing Bruno Fernandes on how to find Gyokeres, Amorim will be using his knowledge of the striker to try and prepare Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro and co to stop him.