Man United may be forced to pay up for Ruben Amorim as £400m Liverpool calculation emerges

Man United may be forced to pay up for Ruben Amorim as £400m Liverpool calculation emerges

Ruben Amorim was considered by Liverpool to replace Jurgen Klopp but Arne Slot was their first choice with results since showing exactly why

Ruben Amorim was considered for the Liverpool job before his eventual arrival at their rivals Manchester United (Image: James Baylis - AMA/Getty Images. )

With Liverpool on course to win their second Premier League title, Richard Hughes can feel vindicated. His first and most important job after being appointed the Reds' new sporting director was to find a replacement for the departing Jurgen Klopp.

It was no easy task given what Klopp had achieved in his near nine-year stay on Merseyside. But nearly 12 months on from Hughes' first meeting with Arne Slot in the latter's native Netherlands, it's safe to say it's a task he has emphatically succeeded in.

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Liverpool, under Slot, are 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League with 10 games to play. Only a monumental slip-up would allow second-placed Arsenal back into the race for the championship now.

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But that's not all. The Reds have another Carabao Cup final to look forward to, against Newcastle United at Wembley in a fortnight's time, and before then there is a glamour, last-16 showdown with Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.

It's a great time to be a Red. The same, however, cannot be said for supporters of their great rivals, Manchester United.

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It has been another testing another season for the Old Trafford outfit, with the appointment of Ruben Amorim after the sacking of Erik ten Hag in October yet to have the desired effect.

Critics believe Amorim's slavish devotion to his 3-4-3 system, which brought him so much success at Sporting CP, is a misstep given United, despite all the millions they have spent in the transfer market, do not possess the personnel to master it.

And so it appears that the only way the 40-year-old will get the system to work is by either developing young players or buying more - and given the club's well documented, ongoing and unpopular moves to reduce outgoings, that could prove difficult.

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It is something that Hughes and FSG CEO of football Michael Edwards weighed up when considering Amorim for the role of succeeding Klopp.

We detailed in November why the Portuguese did not end up at Anfield following his arrival at United. Paul Gorst and Joe Rimmer wrote: "It certainly wasn't down to a problem with his CV. Instead it appears as though tactical differences in the vision that the returning Michael Edwards and newly appointed Richard Hughes had for Liverpool in the post-Klopp world were one of the main deciding factors. There would be no repeat of mistakes made by other clubs, with the Reds keen to ensure that Klopp's work was built on, not torn up by his successor. Evolution, not revolution was required.

"Liverpool certainly did their homework, and within the exhaustive data-led process conducted by the club, there was one man that stood out beyond others as the Reds' ideal candidate to replace the German, Feyenoord's Arne Slot.

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"Analysis conducted by Edwards, Hughes and the club's director of research, Will Spearman, found Slot's aggressive playing style to closest resemble the Reds' under Klopp, meaning there wasn't too much upheaval for a playing staff operating under a new head coach for the first time in close to a decade.

"Amorim instead favoured a set-up with three at the back and his style wasn't as suited to Liverpool as that of Slot's."

And a line in a new, fascinating report from Jonathan Northcroft in The Sunday Times, has shed further light on why the Reds did not believe a deal for Amorim would ultimately be financially viable: "United are the club who spent £1.6billion post-Fergie (Sir Alex Ferugson) to arrive at a squad where the main forward (Rasmus Hojlund) is 150th in the league for shots taken, the main dribbler (Alejandro Garnacho) 86th for take-ons, main midfielder (Manuel Ugarte) 37th for passing accuracy and goalkeeper (Andre Onana) 16th for save percentage. Maybe Amorim is doing okay to have them 14th.

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"He has been talking more and more about recruitment and it was key to his Sporting revolution. There were 12 signings and 25 departures (including loans) in his first season and when Liverpool considered him as a candidate to replace Jurgen Klopp, they liked that he scored top of their metrics among leading European coaches for keeping players fit but calculated it would cost £400m to re-equip their squad for his distinctive system and needs."

After a season without Champions League football, which led to the club posting a £57m pre-tax loss this week, the Reds made just one summer signing in the shape of Federico Chiesa for an initial £10m.

But has not stopped them from racing away from their title rivals in the Premier League. Not that you can consider United, who are 34 points further down the table from Liverpool in 14th, one of those anymore.

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