Aston Villa have made Ruben Amorim their No.1 managerial target - but he will come at a world-record price.
The monied west Midlands club are looking to prise the 37-year-old from Sporting Lisbon after Steven Gerrard was bulleted on Thursday night. Amorim has a whopping €30m release clause in his contract - around £26.3m - and that’s the cash Villa will have to stump up to land their man.
That sum will be the biggest ever handed over by one club to another for their manager, eclipsing the €25m paid by Bayern Munich for RB Leipzig’s Julian Nagelsmann. Amorim’s star is on a rapid trajectory and he has already been the subject of a fee after Sporting handed over the fourth-highest compensation figure when he was lured from Braga just over two years ago for €10m.