Rúben Amorim allegedly has a “verbal agreement” to take charge at Liverpool for the upcoming campaign. What kind of player can the Reds expect from him if he moves to Anfield?
Although it may not be pleasant to consider, Jürgen Klopp’s last few games at Anfield are drawing near. In the best-case scenario, the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinal on Thursday will be his penultimate home game in Europe.
Sporting CP manager Rúben Amorim is the front-runner to succeed Klopp after Xabi Alonso declared himself officially out of the running. This season, the 39-year-old is expected to win a second league title in Portugal and has become one of the most highly regarded young managerial prospects in the game.
In response to questions over his future on Friday, prior to Sporting’s 2-1 victory against title challenger Benfica, Amorim declined to rule out leaving the team despite Liverpool’s continued interest. When asked where he planned to spend the summer, he replied, “I cannot make any guarantees.”
“I’m leaving Sporting if I don’t take home any trophies. That has always been abundantly evident. We need to win, so I thought it was crucial to convey that to the players. We’ll make those decisions later, but our goal is to win trophies.”
Florian Plettenberg of Sky Germany claims that Liverpool and Amorim have a “verbal agreement.” However, how will things appear at Anfield if Amorim succeeds? Liverpool.com has examined four scenarios that we think will ‘certainly’ occur should the Reds choose the Sporting manager to succeed Klopp.
decision on formation
Amorim appears to be limited to using a back three at the time. However, would that hold true at Liverpool? Not always. The Reds’ current team appears much more suited to continue with a 4-3-3 shape, but a decision would still need to be made. Shifting and abandoning that would put the midfielders in doubt while also necessitating the addition of more center backs.
Priority should be given to integrating players like Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai into the squad, but unless they were forwards, they would not be a good fit in a 3-4-3 formation. Should they take that action, it would raise serious concerns about whether players like Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah are better out wide. It would seem sense to base the team on a back four, but Amorim would have the last say.
Liverpool’s playing style
To argue that Klopp’s Liverpool plays ‘heavy metal’ football is long out of date; the Reds are far more based on dominance now than they were when the German coach took over. However, given that Manchester City and Arsenal are also the greatest at it, it would seem that Amorim’s approach is the best going ahead in the Premier League.
In short, the goal is to stifle the opposition by maybe combining possession with pressure. Even if Liverpool has come a long way toward that kind of philosophy in the last few years, Amorim would probably emphasize the shift even more. It’s aggressive and thrilling, but it also takes a Pep Guardiola-esque attitude.
Active CP athletes connected to transfers
Just as when Klopp joined and many assumed that Marco Reus and other talents from Borussia Dortmund would follow him, it is inevitable that Liverpool will be connected to some players from Amorim’s former club. That never happened; even if he had, Klopp hasn’t signed a single player from the Bundesliga team. Even if Jude Bellingham was someone he had preferred to bring in.
Sporting’s most likely candidates to join Anfield are Gonçalo Inácio, Pedro Gonçalves, Morten Hjulmand, Ousmane Diomande, and Viktor Gyökeres. But Liverpool’s relationship with Amorim meant that they would not sign any of them.
Comparisons to Xabi Alonso are unavoidable
We can be certain that Xabi Alonso will not succeed Klopp at Anfield, even though it is highly likely that Amorim will take over as Liverpool’s new manager. Although he was the early leader, the Spaniard has subsequently eliminated himself from consideration.
All the same, Alonso parallels are unavoidable. The belief among many Liverpool supporters was that the former midfield player for the Reds was the ideal candidate. There’ll be talk about what may have been if he keeps working miracles with Bundesliga champion-in-waiting Bayer Leverkusen.
Amorim or anyone else taking over at Liverpool will be held up against Alonso. However, that need not be a negative thing. It must be claimed that Liverpool has a better chance than Leverkusen of maintaining its present level of play the following season.
