Ruben Amorim could turn one exciting Liverpool youngster into a world-class player if he is appointed as manager.
It’s looking like a new era is on the horizon at Anfield. Ruben Amorim seems to be edging closer to taking over Jurgen Klopp’s position at the end of the season.
Given his track record, it’s an exciting appointment for Liverpool. Amorim has a high pedigree in the game and comes with several years of experience managing in Portugal’s top-flight.
He won the Portuguese Cup with Braga, delivered a first league title in 19 years for Sporting CP. Meanwhile, this season he is on course to win the league title and the cup, especially after what happened last weekend.
Just based on that alone, it’s clear Amorim is someone who is used to delivering beyond expectations.
He’s also got a preference for using young players and giving them opportunities. At Sporting CP, Amorim gave debuts to 25 players aged 21-years-old or younger during his time at the club so far.
That will be music to the ears of some of Liverpool’s younger players, who are already excelling under Jurgen Klopp.
Ruben Amorim’s system and who it could benefit
As well as playing youngsters, Amorim’s playing identity also closely resembles Jurgen Klopp’s. Amorim doesn’t quite play the intense gegenpressing system that Klopp does.
But he does like to push his players forward, and plays a similar high risk, high reward strategy with a high defensive line to smother the opponent.
There are distinctive differences, though, in Amorim’s approach as well. Firstly, he sets up his team differently in comparison to Klopp.
Amorim prefers to play in a 3-4-3 system, where mostly his wing-backs provide the width on the pitch. Meanwhile, his two wide offensive players will push into more central positions and play in more of a number ten role.
Why Harvey Elliott could become world-class under Amorim
Given the way Amorim plays, someone like Harvey Elliott could absolutely thrive in his system. Even this season we have started to see the best of Elliott, with Klopp recently describing him as ‘exceptional.’
However, in Amorim’s system, Elliott could elevate his game even further to world-class levels.
The truth is in Klopp’s system, Elliott doesn’t necessarily have a set position. He can play on the right-wing or in midfield – but these are neither his best roles.
His best position is as a number ten, where he has played his best football for England’s U21 side recently. In that role, he has seven goals and four assists in his last six matches for England U21s.
Playing in Amorim’s system, Elliott could be perfectly suited to playing one of the attacking midfielder roles. He could easily become Amorim’s ‘Pedro Goncalves’ at Liverpool, and based on how he’s performed this season post similar numbers to the Portuguese midfielder.
If he does, there will be no question about it – Elliott would become world-class.