With the Portuguese one of the favourites to replace Jurgen Klopp as manager in the summer, club bosses will have consequently done plenty of homework on the Sporting boss and his side behind the scenes in recent years.

Admittedly, the Reds’ links with Portugal in recent years are well-documented and extend beyond Sporting.



Even if they are yet to have snapped up anyone directly from the Estadio Jose Alvalade, they have signed Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz, and Diogo Jota for a combined £179m fee.

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After signing Diaz in a deal worth up to £49m in January 2022, Klopp paid tribute to Reds assistant manager Pep Lijnders and elite development coach Vitor Matos, who had both previously worked at Porto, with the latter, having been at the club when the winger was signed from Colombian side Junior de Barranquilla, for first alerting Liverpool to the Colombia international and helping engineer the switch to Anfield.

"We cannot watch all interesting players closely, me or the coaches; our scouts are doing that and that's what we have the department for," the German said.

But Lijnders and Matos’ links to Porto and Portugal both aided Liverpool when it came to moving for Diaz.

Indeed, it was a similar story when the Reds signed Jota from Wolves.

When the Reds were deliberating over a three-man attacking shortlist in the summer of 2020, it was Lijnders who spoke to trusted allies at Porto for a glowing reference on the forward, who eventually fought off competition from Ismaila Sarr and Jonathan David to join the club in a £45m deal.

Liverpool's number two spent eight years at Porto in his formative days as a coach and spoke to several at the biggest club in Portugal about Jota as interest started to gather pace behind the scenes.

"Through his contacts back in Portuguese football, Pep was given glowing references on the player's character and he believes [Jota] can become a difference maker within our framework over time," said one source at the time.

Meanwhile, with former sporting director Julian Ward also having his own close ties in Portugal and with Benfica, the Reds were also able to quickly complete a deal for Nunez, which could end up being worth a club-record £85m.

The striker was already on Lijnders and Matos’ radar before Liverpool had faced Nunez and Benfica in the Champions League quarter-finals in 2022.

"He was on the list of players and we have this Portuguese department who watch each game even though they struggle a little bit to watch the Benfica games because they are both from the blue side of Porto, but it was clear he was really good,” Klopp would later reveal.

“Luis Diaz was the best player in the Portuguese league and we got him,” Lijnders also teased after signing Nunez.

Ward left the club last summer, after all, while the 'Portuguese department' of Lijnders and Matos will both join him as former Reds employees when they follow Klopp out of the exit door at the end of the season.

But Michael Edwards will have his own list of contacts, along with new sporting director Richard Hughes, having returned to the club after being appointed as Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of Football.

The 39-year-old has, after all, impressed during his time in charge at Sporting, where he is closing on a second Portuguese title in four years.

In fact now eyeing a potential double after reaching the Taca de Portugal final, he has also previously lifted two Taca de Liga titles with the club, as well as triumphing in the competition with Braga prior to joining Sporting.

As of the start of the month, the Reds were still identifying and researching a shortlist of feasible candidates, and yet to determine and formally act upon a preferred choice.