Aston Villa and Wolves both made attempts to lure Ruben Amorim away from Sporting Lisbon after sacking Steven Gerrard and Bruno Lage respectively.
According to The Sun, the 37-year-old told Wolves he had no interest in taking the reins at Molineux.
Elsewhere, it was the Telegraph who claimed that Aston Villa made Amorim their main target to replace Gerrard, before eventually moving onto Unai Emery.
Now, the Portuguese tactician has taken another big decision in his career.
What’s the story?
Well, Amorim has now signed a new contract with Sporting Lisbon until June 2026.
The highly rated coach clearly has a lot of faith in his project at Sporting Lisbon – if anything, this update just goes to show his rejection of Aston Villa and Wolves was nothing personal.
Even if a bigger side, such as Real Madrid, come in for his services, they will find it difficult to prise him away from Sporting Lisbon.
Aston Villa were even said to be facing a £26m compensation package on Amorim’s previous terms, so we can only imagine what Sporting Lisbon would be demanding now.
Aston Villa & Wolves still in a good position
Regardless of Amorim rejecting the pair of Midlanders, they both ended up with fantastic coaches.
In Emery, Aston Villa secured a man with a fantastic CV, which includes a Europa League success at Villarreal, and three successive Europa League victories at Sevilla.
In regards to Wolves, they hired Julen Lopetegui, a coach who has previously managed Real Madrid and the Spanish national team – his CV also speaks volumes, and it is telling that Fosun tried to bring him to Molineux years ago.
Both Spaniards have had time to implement their ideas during the World Cup break, and we look forward to seeing how Aston Villa and Wolves perform when the Premier League gets back underway.
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