Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim is reportedly right alongside Bayer Leverkusen counterpart Xabi Alonso in the running to become Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Liverpool.
Klopp announced last month that he will stand down as Reds manager once the current season draws to a close.
Those are big shoes to fill even before taking into account that Liverpool currently sit top of the Premier League and remain in contention to add FA Cup and Europa League triumphs following Sunday’s 1-0 win over Chelsea after extra time in the Carabao Cup final.
The Independent’s Miguel Delaney wrote on Friday that Amorim has been identified as an attractive alternative to Alonso should Liverpool be unable to bring him back to the club amid rival interest from another of his former sides, Bayern Munich.
Alonso’s history as a player at Anfield and the incredible form he has had Leverkusen in atop the Bundesliga this season are well documented, but Amorim will be less familiar to many Liverpool fans. Here’s what you need to know.
Playing days and first steps into management
A late-career loan spell in Qatar aside, midfielder Amorim spent his entire playing career in his native Portugal, emerging through the academy at Belenenses to become a first-team regular at the club.
His performances earned him a move back to Portuguese giants Benfica, where he had previously spent some time as a teenage prospect.
Amorim was used as a squad player to help the side claim three league titles and six domestic cups, earning 14 international caps along the way; but also got into trouble for his outspoken criticism of Benfica manager Jorge Jesus’ perceived preference for non-domestic players, earning him a club disciplinary and an 18-month loan to Braga.
After formally hanging up his boots in 2015, Amorim accepted an offer his teeth in management with third-tier side Casa Pia in 2018 – but he resigned from the post just weeks later after the club were threatened with a points deduction because he had not yet completed his coaching badges to the league’s mandated standard.
A return to Benfica as under-23s coach was discussed later that season, but he ultimately decided against the move, instead taking the helm at Braga B in September 2019.
Amorim was swiftly promoted to the big chair with the club’s first team after Ricardo Sa Pinto was sacked, claiming his first silverware within weeks of his appointment by masterminding a League Cup semi–final win over Sporting and then a last-minute 1-0 victory over eventual league champions Porto in the final.
Success with Sporting
Amorim’s managerial career was rapidly fast-tracked after he supplemented that cup win by leading Braga to eight wins, one draw and zero defeats in the league, lifting the club from eighth in the table to third.
That meant they had overtaken Sporting – nominally a bigger club, but without a league title to their name since 2002.
Naturally, then, Sporting turned to Amorim to be the man to revive their fortunes, appointing him as Silas’ replacement just before the season was put on hold by the global coronavirus pandemic.
Amorim again oversaw an immediate improvement in the club’s form, claiming six wins and two draws in his first eight games in charge either side of the enforced hiatus.
The league title was already well beyond Sporting’s grasp at the time of Amorim’s appointment, but the stage had been set for them to have a strong push the following season.
They more than delivered on that promise, going agonisingly close to a full season unbeaten: their only defeat was a 4-3 loss away to fierce local rivals Benfica in the penultimate game of the season, after their first league title in 19 years had already been assured – along with Amorim’s second successive League Cup triumph, this time beating his former club Braga in the final.
Sporting mounted a strong title challenge the following year, but three defeats over the course of the campaign gave Porto enough of an opening to beat them to it; but Amorim went three for three in the League Cup in a repeat of the previous season’s final.
A disappointing start to the 2022-23 season put Sporting effectively out of the running for the title early on in a league with so little margin for error, eventually finishing fourth; and they fell just short of yet another League Cup win after losing to Porto in the final.
Amorim’s Sporting have been resurgent this year, however, and at time of writing sit level on points with Benfica at the top of the table with a game in hand; and they remain in with a shout of their first European trophy since 1964 having been drawn with Atalanta in the last 16 of the Europa League.
Premier League links
The connection to Liverpool is not the first time Ruben Amorim has been linked with a move to England.
The now-39 year old has been touted for the Manchester United job on more than one occasion, with reports in November 2021 suggesting he was on their shortlist to succeed Ralf Rangnick and the bookies fancying him as one of the contenders to replace current boss Erik ten Hag.
Amorim was also reported to have interviewed at Chelsea last year following Graham Potter’s dismissal, but was ultimately beaten out by Mauricio Pochettino.
Style of play
Amorim’s very respectable trophy haul at this stage of his career led FFT to name him among the world’s best managers aged under 40 earlier this season, coming in second to Julian Nagelsmann.
The Sporting gaffer tends to prefer playing a 3-4-3, with the central player in a flexible back line stepping out into midfield to offer a passing option while the other two centre-back spread wide to give themselves a diagonal through-line to the side’s central midfield duo.
That speaks to one of Amorim’s key tenets: his possession-heavy style relies on packing central midfield in a bid to always have the numerical advantage against high-pressing opposition.
His Sporting side will work the ball forward through the middle before looking to finish moves either through their wing-backs – the primary source of width, just as Liverpool’s full-backs are under Klopp – or another option Liverpool are already well-versed in: a fluid front three.
Off the ball, Amorim’s Sporting have been noted for the sheer intensity of their high press, which again aims to create a numerical advantage in central midfield.
Both in and out of possession, it is easy to see how those principles would appeal to Liverpool as they look for Klopp’s heir.
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