Amorim accepts Sporting’s “misses” in the market and does not want to settle for classics, considering Porto

Sporting coach Ruben Amorim admitted on Thursday that there is “little time” to strengthen the I League football team, but said he is prepared to “wait” to provide the club with a first attacking option.

“We are trying the first option, we will see if we can do it, but there is little time left… We will be ready,” the coach said at a press conference at the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy in Alcochete.

Without mentioning the name of Greek Ioannidis (Panathinaikos), who has been described as a “target” for the club, Amorim also refused to comment on the alleged trip to Barcelona by sporting director Hugo Viana to negotiate the signing of Vitor Roque and insisted that he was not aware that Sporting were “negotiating a third option”.

“We need first options, sometimes we get them, sometimes we don’t. Sometimes when we are tight we make mistakes, but we try that first option,” he said, as quoted by Record.

“I am willing to wait as long as possible because I am confident in my players and I am interested in beating Farense. And I think we have given good answers,” he commented during the preview of the visit to the Algarve, counting the third round of the I League.

Regarding this match, Ruben Amorim stressed that “this is the most important game” and that before hosting Porto in the next round, “there is no direction”, but added that he would not risk using midfielder Hjulman on this visit to the Algarve.

“Morten [Hjulmand] “is not ready yet. We could take a risk, but we are not at that stage yet. We miss him a lot, he is the captain of our team, but we cannot risk Morten and therefore he will not be ready for this match yet,” Amorim said.

Conversely, striker “Rodrigo Ribeiro is back”, striker “Nuno Santos is also back” and “they will both be called up” for the trip to the Algarve.

Sporting even faced Farense in pre-season, in a private behind-closed-doors match which they won 3-0 and beat Nacional 6-1, but Amorim predicted a “very tough game” and with “a completely different feeling”.

“I foresee a difficult game against a difficult opponent and with a coach [José Mota] who has more years than all of us in Portuguese football. But we want to continue winning and maintain our positions,” said the Green and White coach.

Sporting visit Farense on Friday in a match of the third round of the 2024/25 Portuguese Football League 1, scheduled to kick off at 20:15, at the Estadio Algarve, refereed by Tiago Martins (AF Lisbon).

The team coached by Ruben Amorim are looking for their third successive league win after beating Rio Ave (3-1) at home and Nacional (6-1) in Funchal before hosting Porto in the next round of the competition on August 31.

Farense, coached by José Mota, lost their first two matches against Moreirense (2-1) at home and Rio Ave (1-0) away and remain in 15th place without a single point.