Ruben Amorim: Should Chelsea hire Sporting CP manager?

Mauricio Pochettino remains under immense pressure at Chelsea. Some fans are calling for him to be sacked and, with performances trending in the wrong direction, those cries will only continue to get louder.

The Chelsea owners dismissed Thomas Tuchel and struck out on Graham Potter, and reports suggest they could be set for another expensive managerial change in the form of Sporting CP's Ruben Amorim, who has long been on the radar at Stamford Bridge.

Here's all you need to know about one of the most intriguing young managers in Europe.

Ruben Amorim's career so far

A reliable midfielder who won three Primeira Liga titles with Benfica, Amorim's playing career was pushed towards an early end with an ACL injury in 2015. He terminated his contract with Benfica two years later and switched his focus to coaching at the age of 32.

A short spell with third-tier side Casa Pia preceded a move to Braga's reserves in 2019, and here began the whirlwind nature of his career. Amorim was promoted to the senior side three months later, led Braga to victory over Porto in the Taca da Liga final and went unbeaten across 11 domestic games, convincing Sporting to pay a cool €10m to buy him out of his contract in 2020 - the third-highest fee ever paid for a manager at the time.

After using his debut season to settle in and build his identity, Amorim's Sporting won the league title in 2021/22 with a squad that included promoted youngsters like Goncalo Inacio, Nuno Mendes and Matheus Nunes.

One of Amorim's biggest successes has been the development of players who have been sold for immense profits. Matheus Nunes (€62m), Manuel Ugarte (€60m), Pedro Porro (€45m), Nuno Mendes (€40m) and Joao Palhinha (€21m) all blossomed into superior players under Amorim, while the likes of Inacio, Ousmane Diomande, Viktor Gyokeres and Morten Hjulmand have all been tipped to leave for huge sums.

Ruben Amorim's tactics

Perhaps Amorim's strongest work comes with his central midfielders. Nunes, Palhinha and Ugarte all thrived under the boss who, regardless of the players available to him, consistently appears to maximise his midfielders.

Building through the heart of the pitch is key to Amorim's 3-4-3 setup, with centre-backs encouraged to do whatever they can to help the central midfielders get on the ball to make things happen. One defender is often tasked with stepping forward into midfield to create more options.

Amorim works to create overloads for wing-backs and demands fluidity from his three forwards to exploit space, but he does not ignore his defensive responsibilities either and always looks to ensure his side are protected against counters.

How would Ruben Amorim fit at Chelsea?

A manager with such a success rate when it comes to midfielders would be an obvious hire for Chelsea, who have put together the most expensive unit in history with the signings of Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.

As well as a clear focus on maximising Fernandez and Caicedo, Amorim's wing-back system would also bear similarities to the setups which saw Reece James and Ben Chilwell impress under former boss Thomas Tuchel. Malo Gusto's exciting start to life at Chelsea only adds to the possibilities.

In attack, Chelsea do enjoy plenty of fluidity from the likes of Cole Palmer and Christopher Nkunku. Current striker Nicolas Jackson would be a solid fit for a central role but the Blues appear set on adding Victor Osimhen from Napoli as a star forward. Considering the impact Amorim's setup has had on Gyokeres, who hit his 30th goal of the season in early February, the Sporting boss appears capable of ending Chelsea's goalscoring nightmare.

Amorim has clearly impressed Sporting fans on the pitch but he has also left a big mark behind the scenes. A clear willingness to promote young players would appeal to Chelsea, who boasted one of Europe's finest academies even before the new owners started throwing money at teenagers with reckless abandon.

Ruben Amorim's release clause

Sporting paid €10m to hire Amorim in 2019, negotiating Braga down from his €20m release clause, and are determined to make a profit on the boss after handing him a new exit clause worth a cool €30m (£25.6m).

Such a figure would shatter the world record for a manager, which was set by Chelsea with the hiring of Graham Potter. While reports of the exact fees vary, Brighton received £21.5m for Potter and his coaching staff, with the manager himself having a release clause of £15m.

Such a fee would pose an enormous risk for Chelsea, or any club, considering Amorim's lack of experience outside of Portugal, but also speaks volumes of just how highly he is valued by Sporting.

READ THE LATEST CHELSEA NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP