Ruben Amorim has reportedly sent his shopping list in to Liverpool in the event that he is appointed as Jurgen Klopp’s successor, with three of his current players at Sporting said to be his unsurprising priority.
Amorim has reportedly agreed verbal terms to become Liverpool boss this summer, though nothing has been formalised as yet.
With new managers come new players (as Uncle Ben might have said if Peter Parker had followed his cousin Paul into football instead of being the web-slinging crime-fighter we know and love today), often with an existing connection to the new gaffer.
Ruben Amorim asks for young Sporting centre-back duo at Liverpool
That policy has of course gone stupendously well for Liverpool in the past, with Roy Hodgson bringing the legendary Paul Konchesky to Anfield before Brendan Rodgers splashed the cash on the iconic Joe Allen and Fabio Borini.
But we dare say the trio Amorim reportedly wants to take to Merseyside with him, should he make the move, from Sporting are probably a bit better than that.
Portuguese outlet Jornal Noticias report (as passed on by The Express) that centre-backs Goncalo Inacio, 22, and Ousmane Diomande, 20 are on that list.
Full internationals for Portugal and the Ivory Coast respectively after each earning their first full caps last year, Inacio and Diomande have started the lion’s share of table-topping Sporting’s outings this season. With Amorim generally preferring a back three, the suggestion is that they would be signed to slot in alongside skipper Virgil Van Dijk.
The other name on the shopping list, just after eggs and toilet roll, is midfielder Morten Hjulmand (or, as the Express call him, Martin). The five-cap Danish international has enjoyed a positive debut season for Sporting after joining from Italian side Lecce last summer.
Sporting are four points clear of Benfica at the top of the Primeira Liga with a game in hand and form firmly behind them after going 14 league games without defeat. They have also qualified for the Portuguese Cup final for the first time in five years, with Amorim leading them to two League Cup triumphs in the interim.
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Coincidentally, all three players were among FourFourTwo’s picks for players Amorim might want to bring over with him. You can find out more about them (and two others) here. Meanwhile, Mo Salah and Luis Diaz could be heading for the door.
Plus, anyone arriving at Liverpool will want a shot at European glory, but can you name every Reds player to have played in a continental final this century?
