Who is Ruben Amorim? Why is he a top managerial target for Chelsea? Here’s all you need to know

Sporting CP manager Ruben Amorim has been on Premier League giants Chelsea and Liverpool’s radar for a while now.

The 39-year-old took charge of Sporting back in 2020 and has achieved great heights with the club. He has brought them back to the top of Liga Portugal and competing with FC Porto and SL Benfica. He has won the Primeira Liga in 2020-21 as well as the Taca da Liga in 2021 & 2022.

Coming from Jose Mourinho’s school of thought, Amorim has been touted for a switch to the Premier League of late. So why exactly is he such a hot managerial prospect right now?

Ruben Amorim’s career background and playing style

Ruben Amorim played as a central midfielder during his playing days and mainly made a name for himself representing Benfica. He made 153 appearances for them, scoring six goals and providing 14 assists. With over 300 club appearances under his belt, along with over 10 caps for Portugal, Amorim began working on his coaching badges in 2016.

He took charge of Sporting CP back in 2020 and signed a six-year contract running until June 2026. So far, he has overseen 197 games across competitions, winning 138, drawing 29 and losing 30. Ruben Amorim has used a total of 78 players in these four years. His teams have scored at a rate of 2.14 goals per game, earning 2.25 points per game on average.

Amorim prefers a classic 3-4-3 formation to set up his teams, or will sometimes revert to a 3-4-3 diamond formation as well. He is known for his concise and result-oriented, yet easy-going approach towards his players and staff. A man of his word, Amorim has mentioned several times that he does not speak ill of referees and has never done so till date.

Tactically, he has somewhat taken after his idol Mourinho, but has fortunately taken none of his personality traits onboard. His teams are defensively sound as Sporting CP have conceded just 54 goals in their last 56 league games.

When could Ruben Amorim switch to the Premier League?

The aforementioned qualities have made him a big target for Chelsea, who are shaky under Mauricio Pochettino, and Liverpool, who are all set to part ways with Jurgen Klopp after several years.

While the Blues hierarchy are still closely monitoring their team’s progress under Pochettino, it seems unlikely they will make a change before the summer. Liverpool, too, will hope to add to the Carabao Cup to give Klopp a fitting farewell before recruiting his successor.

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