CHELSEA have been forced to deny that they paid for a flight for Sporting Lisbon manager Ruben Amorim after he was spotted in London last week.
Reports said that Amorim was in the capital to hold talks with West Ham United over replacing David Moyes.
But Portuguese journalist Pedro Sepúlveda, who has almost 90,000 followers on X, posted that Amorim was on his way to talk to the Blues about taking over from under-pressure Mauricio Pochettino after rejecting an offer from Liverpool. The Reds have since moved on and are set to appoint Feyenoord’s Arne Slot as Jurgen Klopp’s successor.
Telegraph football reporter Matt Law reported posted that Chelsea were “absolutely adamant that the club did not pay for a flight for Ruben Amorim to visit London last week and did not hold any meetings or talks with him”.
Amorim was forced to apologise for the trip, which took place days before Sporting’s 2-2 draw at rivals FC Porto last Saturday.
“Let’s get the elephant out of the room. I’ll talk about this once,” Amorim said last weekend. “The first thing is that the club was aware of my trip. It’s important and changes the context.
“The second situation, talking about the cloak of secrecy surrounding the trip. I secretly parked the car outside, passed around fifteen people, took photos with people and got on the plane.
“Therefore, remove a little bit of that thing that was done behind our backs, mainly from the club.
“The most important point – my trip was a mistake. The timing was completely off, it didn’t seem right to me at the time.
“It was inappropriate, even more so when I am so demanding with my players, I am always the first to say that each one’s individual problems cannot be overcome by the team and, therefore, it was my fault.
“I have to accept it and live with it. Thinking coldly afterwards, it is very clear.
“It’s also not true that I didn’t explain to the players. I gave it to the players and the staff.
“Now it’s time to move forward, also using the public part to apologise to Sporting fans, the staff and especially, publicly, to my players.”
Amorim is set to be one of the most highly sought-after coaches in England and Europe this summer with a number of jobs potentially becoming available, including at the Hammers, Manchester United, Bayern Munich and AC Milan.
Pochettino led the Blues to the final of the EFL Cup and semi-finals of the FA Cup but ultimately the club will endure another trophy-less season.
Chelsea are also struggling to qualify for Europe through the Premier League. They are ninth, six points behind Manchester United in the UEFA Conference League spot before their game in hand against Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge on Thursday (May 2).
