Sporting Club de Portugal manager Rúben Amorim’s recent trip to London was paid for by Chelsea, not West Ham United.
That’s according to journalist Pedro Sepúlveda, who says it is actually Chelsea who brought him over for discussions.
Amorim travelled to England last week and caused quite the media stir when he did so, particularly as it appeared West Ham were making a surprise move for him and beating Liverpool to his signature.
That didn’t prove to be the case, though, as the Reds decided to go for Arne Slot instead and West Ham didn’t commit to anything either.
Indeed, the whole move appears to have backfired on the Portuguese coach, who has since apologised for his actions and insisted he is fully focused on Sporting.
The belief was that West Ham had brought him over to discuss replacing David Moyes at the end of the season and paid to do so, but Sepúlveda says otherwise.
According to his information it was Chelsea that paid for the flight on April 22nd and Amorim met with members of the board to boot.
He states that Mauricio Pochettino will probably leave Chelsea at the end of the season and the Sporting boss has been lined up to replace him if he does. He adds that Amorim’s deal with Liverpool collapsed and talk of West Ham paying for the flight is ‘fake’.
It’s a bold claim from Sepúlveda, who is the only one reporting this at this moment in time and insistent that it is actually Chelsea at the front of the queue for the Portuguese manager.
On the face of it it’s a move that could make sense given his experience developing young talent but it’s highly debatable why Chelsea would pay for a flight and then allow him to meet other clubs at the same time, particularly a London rival to boot.
Perhaps they were simply using the Hammers as a smokescreen, but that’s the kind of smart thinking that Todd Boehly and co absolutely haven’t shown since taking charge at Stamford Bridge.
