Gianluigi Longari has pinpointed one reported Liverpool managerial candidate who ‘stands out’ among those being considered by the Merseyside club.
The journalist claimed that Xabi Alonso is unsurprisingly ‘first on the list’ at Anfield, but he did put forward an interesting alternative to the Bayer Leverkusen boss.
He posted on X (translated from Italian): “Liverpool evaluations in progress for the bench. Many candidates in the running, the first on the list of LFC is Xabi Alonso. Among the alternatives taken into consideration by Reds, the name of Ruben Amorim, currently managing Sporting, stands out.”
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It’s no surprise that Alonso is seemingly top of the wish list, considering his remarkable work at Leverkusen and his previous Liverpool connections. However, if the 42-year-old is unwilling to leave the BayArena, or goes elsewhere, Sporting Lisbon boss Amorim could well be a worthy candidate to consider.
Despite only turning 39 recently, he’s taken charge of almost 200 first-team matches in the Portuguese capital (Transfermarkt), winning the league title in his first full season in charge in 2020/21 and guiding them to the Champions League round of 16 the following year.
He’s helped to nurture talents such as Joao Palhinha, Matheus Nunes, Pedro Porro and Pablo Sarabia, while he’s also renowned for his amicable personality and his reluctance to criticise referees in public, which means that he’d likely represent Liverpool in a positive light.
Another positive to Amorim is his reputation for fostering an unbreakable team spirit at Sporting, restoring a mood of placidity to a club which had been at war with itself in previous years, as well as promoting young talent and a sharp tactical nous.
Alonso remains the prime candidate, for sure, but the 39-year-old Portuguese coach would certainly appear to be a standout alternative.
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