In the aftermath of Jurgen Klopp‘s shock announcement to step down from his role as Liverpool manager at the end of the season, there were some predictable and well-known names linked as his successor.
Chief among those are Xabi Alonso and Roberto de Zerbi, plus a host of others who seem less likely but are being linked nonetheless.
However, a new name to emerge on Saturday is that of Sporting CP head coach, Ruben Amorim.
The 39-year-old Portuguese coach has transformed Sporting since taking over in March 2020 and currently has the Lisbon side top of the Liga Portugal table, ahead of fierce city rivals Benfica.
It could be viewed that Amorim is on a similar trajectory as Alonso, building their careers sensibly and on the verge of a move to a top European club.
Amorim’s side are known for their attractive, flexible, attacking, possession based football, most often playing a 3-4-3 formation – and he has an excellent record of developing players in the past two seasons.
Liverpool scouts have watched a lot of Sporting in recent years, scouting centre-back Goncalo Inacio, who has been heavily linked with a move to Anfield.
Amorim (pictured above in his playing days with Benfica) is said to have a buyout clause of €20 million.
He began his coaching career at SC Braga before making the move to Portugal’s capital in 2020, leading Sporting to their first league title in 19 years.
The following year they made the last-16 of the Champions League and last season reached the quarter finals of the Europa League after impressively beating Arsenal in the last-16.
He won the Portuguese League Cup three years in a row, once with Braga in 2020, then with Sporting in 2021 and 2022.
Earlier this season he was speculatively linked with the Man United job, to which he responded: “I’m not going to make any kind of comment on these situations. We don’t know the future, it depends on the results.”
“Regarding the future, I have an idea for the end of the season but I won’t say it now. But the results and the context take us to something different.”
Amirom appears to be a name to keep an eye on and ticks a lot of boxes that Liverpool will be assessing in the coming weeks and months.
