Sporting CP boss Ruben Amorim denies meeting with Liverpol took place

The Portuguese manager seemed annoyed at a press conference on Thursday about the constant questions about his future. 

Who will be the next Liverpool manager? This is the question we’ve all been asking since Jurgen Klopp announced he would be leaving the Merseyside club after the season back in January. This week, it seemed like we finally got our answer.  
 
Reports claimed that Sporting CP manager Rúben Amorim had met with the club’s higher-ups and agreed to be the next Liverpool manager. Now, the Portuguese manager has come out strongly denying those reports.  

“No interview or agreement”

In a press conference on Thursday ahead of Sporting’s upcoming match against Gil Vicente in the Portuguese Liga Portugal, Rúben Amorim appeared annoyed with all the questions about his future and the recent reports linking him to Liverpool.  
 
“This is the last time I'm going to talk about my future. There was no interview and certainly no agreement,” the 39-year-old said emphatically on Thursday.  
 
“The only thing we all want here is to be champions with Sporting, nothing will change. I'm the Sporting coach and there was no interview or agreement with any club.” 
 
“I'm just focused, as always, on representing my club. As I no longer have anything else to say. There will be no interviews or agreements with the Sporting coach. The matter is completely resolved, whether related to this club or another,” Amorim went on to say. 

Amorim changes tune 

These comments from Amorim were surprising to many after last week when the Sporting boss told the press he could not guarantee his future at the club.  
 
“No, I can't make any guarantees,” Amorim said when asked about his future 
 
“Sporting are dealing with their future and I can't decide now because I gave my word, I can't go back on that, so if I don't win trophies, I'm going to leave Sporting.” 
 
“That's been very clear since the start. I felt it was important to get that across to the players because we have to win. We want to win trophies and we'll decide on those things later,” he said last week. 
 
What caused Amorim to go from openly discussing his future to being hostile to questions about it is unclear. Whatever the case, Amorim is still odds-on favourite to be the next Liverpool manager. 

Liverpool next manager odds 

Despite his protests, Amorim is by far the biggest favourite to take over from Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool when you look at the soccer betting odds.  
 
Amorim’s odds to be next Liverpool manager are $1.33. No one else even comes close. Julian Nagelsmann, Ange Postecoglou, Pep Lijnders, and Roberto De Zerbi are all in the pack behind Amorim with odds of $10.00 or longer.

Amorim’s Sporting CP side have eight matches left in their season, including a Portuguese Cup final match on May 26. If the recent reports are to be believed, that final could be Amorim’s last match as Sporting boss.