Sporting CP coach Ruben Amorim was in London last night to preview his side’s game against Tottenham when he was asked about his interest in one day managing in England.
In the past fortnight, Amorim has been a candidate for the Wolves and Aston Villa jobs, and it feels inevitable a Premier League club will eventually make the promising 37-year-old an offer he cannot refuse.
The growing clamour around Amorim is reminiscent of the hype around another young Portuguese coach, Marco Silva, who pitched up in English football in 2017.
Fresh-faced, not yet 40 and already in the orbit of Jorge Mendes, Silva arrived at Hull, having impressed at Sporting and Olympiacos, and with much the same kind of reputation that Amorim enjoys today: billed as the next great young coach to emerge from Portugal.
In the intervening years, it has not exactly gone to plan for Silva, whose career flatlined at Watford and Everton before he joined second-tier Fulham in July 2021.
Silva was criticised for his coaching, character and naked ambition, and before he took the job it was conceivable he might have already squandered his opportunities to make it in the Premier League.
This season, Silva is proving his many doubters wrong and, as it stands, is quietly emerging as one of the stories of the campaign. As the Cottagers cantered to the Championship title last season, it was tempting to wonder, uncharitably, if Silva and his players had found their level.
Instead, 11 games in, Fulham are seventh and have already secured as many top-flight wins — five — as they managed by March in their previous Premier League campaign two years ago.
They have earned thrilling victories over Brentford, Brighton, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Leeds, and drawn with Liverpool, Wolves and Bournemouth.
Most striking is that Fulham have carried on where they left off in the Championship. Only the top three have scored more than their 22 goals, and they have been a joy to watch for most of the season, working tirelessly, playing to their strengths and taking risks.
No player epitomises Fulham’s seamless transition from the second tier more than Aleksandar Mitrovic, whose ninth goal of the campaign against Leeds on Sunday means he has scored 52 times across 57 games under Silva.
Even as Mitrovic smashed records last season, there were doubts that he would be able to step up to the Premier League, particularly after his disappointing 2020-21 campaign under Scott Parker. As it stands, only Erling Haaland has a better goals per minute ratio than the Serbian.
Other members of Silva’s squad, notably Harrison Reed, have improved beyond recognition, and Fulham suddenly look like a squad full of top-flight players.
The club has not spent as lavishly as many of its rivals and, by and large, their success so far this season has been a victory for coaching and for Silva, who is finally living up to his early billing.
