MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 14: (EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE) (EDITOR'S NOTE: Image processed using a ... \[+\] digital filter) In this image released on November 15th, Ruben Amorim is seen giving an interview at Old Trafford on November 14, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
Manchester United via Getty Images
A pump fake is when a player in US sports, like a basketball or American football player, wants to fool their opponent by motioning as if they are going to throw the ball but keeping it in their hands.
If it works successfully, the other players will go sprawling off balance in the wrong direction, which can be quite entertaining.
In recent years, the expression has been repurposed on social media to cover a phenomenon in soccer: the pump fake transfer.
This version of the pump fake sees a club pursue a player, driving up the price for their transfer and exciting a fanbase, only to abandon the move before it's done.
The fake pump transfer is especially powerful if the traded player fails to meet expectations and proves to be a costly flop.
It also provides useful cover for supporters who might need to save face after salivating over the prospect of a player joining their club who has ultimately opted for a hated rival.
Over the past decade, some of the best pump fake transfer claims have been from Manchester City fans to their rivals Manchester United.
The first notorious incident occurred in 2018 when the inter-city rivals were both vying for the Premier League title.
At the time, Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez was one of the best players in the league. With only two months remaining on his contract, he was poised to leave the Gunners regardless of what happened that season.
Manchester City and Pep Guardiola were well-known to hold a strong interest in the Chilean attacker.
So when the January transfer window rolled around, negotiations on a deal between the clubs began.
But at the last minute, Manchester United rolled in with a $485,000-per-week contract offer.
"I was about to go to City," the Chilean told La Tercera much later. "We talked every day; he sent me messages. Suddenly, the phone rings. Mourinho tells me: 'Alexis, here is the number seven shirt available for you.' I wanted to leave at that moment, but I had Guardiola's word.
"That's when I said to myself, a Chilean footballer playing for Manchester United, something that has never happened. With the seven of Cantona, Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo and now a Chilean had it, it was a dream."
Sanchez went to Old Trafford and was reportedly so underwhelmed by the first training session that he asked if he could return to Arsenal.
He then had an awful spell at the Red Devils, lasting a mere 18 months, and thoroughly trashed his reputation in England.
As United plummeted downwards with a big contract burning up cash, City won two Premier League's on the bounce. To their fans, this was a pump fake, a deal pursued that ultimately downed their rivals.
Then came Harry Maguire, who in the summer of 2019 was considered one of the most promising center halves in the world.
City was interested in having him bolster their backline, but so were United. In the end, the larger budget at Old Trafford saw him move from Leicester to the Red Devils for a world-record $100 million fee.
This felt the most definitive of all the near misses with United players City. Maguire became the symbol of expensive failure at Old Trafford, while on the other side of Manchester, cheaper players reached higher levels.
In addition to Sanchez and Maguire, in the past decade, City has also been the frontrunner for Paul Pogba, Fred, and Cristiano Ronaldo, only to be outbid by United for the deal.
None of those players could be classed as anything close to a success, and all have had the pump fake claim.
Ruben Amorim A Managerial Pump Fake?
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BERGAMO, ITALY - MARCH 14: Ruben Amorim, Head Coach of Sporting CP, looks on prior to the UEFA ... \[+\] Europa League 2023/24 round of 16 second leg match between Atalanta and Sporting CP at the Stadio di Bergamo on March 14, 2024 in Bergamo, Italy. (Photo by Emilio Andreoli/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Arguably, the most interesting of all the near misses now sits in the Old Trafford dugout.
Before he moved to Manchester United and Pep Guardiola signed a new two-year deal at Manchester City, the links between Ruben Amorim and the reigning champions were growing.
Not least because the Citizens' new sporting director, Hugo Viana, worked closely with the coach at Sporting Lisbon.
The new manager was even candid enough to admit that the idea had occurred that he might succeed Guardiola before he took the role at United.
"It's something that crosses your mind, but I never had any doubts," Amorim said at one of his first United press conferences.
"My decision has been made, and that's the club I want to work for. That's where I want to continue my career as a coach. It crossed my mind, but I decided on the club I wanted and I didn't want anything else. I wanted Manchester United, and that's what I did."
Following Amorim's appointment, there were media reports that City had never considered the coach and that keeping Guardiola was always the priority.
But those who've followed every previous pump fake saga will know there were similar briefings to save face after each United swoop of a City-bound star.
This move is the biggest of them all, and it will be fascinating to see whether history records Amorim as a bullet dodged or an opportunity missed by Manchester United's big rivals.