Journalist believes Ruben Amorim trick BACKFIRED and put off Liverpool

It’s been suggested that Ruben Amorim attempted a trick that backfired on him, potentially costing him a move to Liverpool.

Ruben Amorim was the firm favourite for the Liverpool job a week ago. Now he's a bit of an afterthought as Arne Slot is quite clearly the Reds' choice.

Feyenoord are actually in discussions with Liverpool over Slot. The club have put in an offer but the Dutch champions rejected it - talks will continue until there's a result.

That leaves Amorim likely remaining with Sporting CP. It's a surprise, certainly, so what happened?

Journalist Bruno Andrade told CNN that he feels a move made by Amorim last week put a halt to things. Andrade explained how the Portuguese manager went to talk with West Ham United in London - something of a surprise, given the talk around Liverpool.

That was supposedly a deliberate move by Amorim and his agent as they attempted to put pressure on the Reds. Liverpool, however, didn't take that particularly well and saw right through it.

They quickly leaked that Amorim wasn't their no.1 choice and essentially moved on from Amorim. Now Slot is set to head to Anfield, while the Portuguese boss will remain at Sporting.

Ruben Amorim move backfires

It's an interesting theory and it should be said that Andrade is the only one suggesting this. It's entirely possible that Amorim was just genuinely interested in what West Ham had to say, with no thought about the Liverpool job.

And you can't really say how much this would have affected Liverpool. After all, it's unlikely to have changed much if Amorim was their clear favourite to take over - it only has an effect if they're unsure about him.

If the Reds were already on the verge of ending their interest, though, it's exactly the kind of thing that convinces them. That's what we imagine happened here - Amorim and his agent putting the final nail in the coffin.