Following Steven Gerrard’s departure last Thursday, The Villans are set to open talks with Rúben Amorim, as reported by the English newspaper The Sun.
According to the tabloid, the club from Birmingham have their eyes on the 37-year-old as a potential option for Villa’s coaching position and would have to pay a £20 million release clause to Sporting in order to hire the manager.
The 2020/2021 Portuguese champion has been one of the main characters in the football transfer market since 2021, as the gaffer has been scouted by many clubs including Ligue 1 champions, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester United. It has also been reported that at the beginning of October, Amorim rejected an offer from Wolverhampton, who wanted the Portuguese manager as the replacement for Bruno Lage.
It seems that the former Benfica player is not the only option for the seven-time English champions, as Aston Villa are also interested in Mauricio Pochettino, Brendan Rodgers, and Thomas Frank, Brentford’s head coach, to fill out the position left by Gerrard.
As reported by the Daily Mail, Pochettino is the leading candidate for the job. However, the Argentinian coach seems hesitant to accept the club’s offer.
“The former Tottenham boss was Villa’s first choice to replace Gerrard, and co-owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens were prepared to make him one of the highest-paid managers in Europe,” wrote Sami Mokbel and Tom Collomosse, Daily Mail’s reporters. “But with the Argentine unsure about taking over a club 17th in the Premier League, Villa must examine other options.”
The Villans sacked Gerrard last Thursday after their 3-0 defeat against Fulham, their sixth defeat in 11 matches during this Premier League season. The 42-year old coach, who managed to save the club from relegation last season, used his social media accounts to write an emotional message to Villa fans after his departure was confirmed.
“I would like to thank everyone connected to Aston Villa Football Club, for the support shown to me during my time there,” Gerrard wrote. ““To the fans, I owe a debt of gratitude for the way you welcomed me. Villa is a club with a special history, I really wanted to bring back those memorable achievements, unfortunately it wasn’t to be.”
-Matheus Teles
Photo: Sporting Clube de Portugal. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.