Klopp's 'connector' - who is new Swansea boss Matos?

Inspired by Jose Mourinho, known as Jurgen Klopp's "connector" at Liverpool, and given the backing of Luka Modric.

Now Vitor Matos has the challenge of becoming his own man at Swansea City.

Matos became Swansea's fifth new manager in five seasons when he was confirmed as Alan Sheehan's replacement on Monday.

It is the 37-year-old's first frontline job in British football and comes after only five months as a manager with Portuguese second-tier side Maritimo.

But behind that is a two-decade journey to this point, starting at Porto and including becoming a key background figure for Liverpool through the Klopp era.

By the time Matos, then 31, arrived at Anfield in October 2019 as elite development coach, he had already spent years developing himself.

Still a teenager when Mourinho led local club Porto to Champions League glory, it set Matos on the path to coaching. Working his way up the Porto ranks as a youth coach, he also spent time with Chinese Super League side Shandong Luneng before returning to coach Porto's B side.

It was at Porto where Matos first struck up a relationship with Pep Lijnders, the man who would go on to become Klopp's assistant.

Matos was the man recommended to fill Lijnders' old role of nurturing the best academy talent at Anfield ready for the first team, spending time on the training field with both the Under-23 and senior teams, and charged with making sure all sides were aligned with the football they delivered.

Matos has been given at least partial credit for the development of the likes of Curtis Jones, Neco Williams, Harvey Elliott, Sepp van den Berg and Jarrell Quansah.

Klopp described him as the connection between the potential of the academy and the needs of the Premier League.

"He's followed the right steps working with Klopp," says Football Association of Wales (FAW) director of football Dave Adams.

Matos completed his Uefa Pro Licence in Wales alongside former Real Madrid number two Davide Ancelotti, ex-Nottingham Forest assistant Mile Jedinak and former Wales and Swansea defender Neil Taylor.

"He'll definitely play in the Swansea way, which I think at times has been questioned in previous years," Adams said.

"I think you'll see a real strong identity, trying to be really brave with the ball and courageous, and I think it'll be a team that are very aggressive against the ball - high pressing, counter-pressing."

It appears Klopp will not be far from Matos' reach when needed for advice at Swansea, even if the the legendary German coach is being kept busy by his executive role at the Red Bull organisation.

"We speak often enough, he has a job as well and he has not a lot of time, but we are still friends," said Matos.

"He's someone that I care a lot about and he cares about me, and that's a relationship that I always want to care about.

"We will speak and we will keep speaking in the future."

After leaving Liverpool at the same time as Klopp in 2024, Matos spent time with Lijnders at Red Bull Salzburg before taking over at Maritimo.

That was only five months ago, his only senior role, but it is far from the first time Swansea have given rookies a chance.

Most notably, Roberto Martinez - now manager of Portugal's Nations League-winning national side - was still a 33-year-old player when he was announced as Swans boss.

And there have been newcomers such as Garry Monk, who led Swansea to their record Premier League points tally and eighth place, while Graham Potter and Steve Cooper had not managed in senior club football in England before their appointments.

Matos is different. Despite his coaching pedigree, he has just 12 games as a frontline boss with Maritimo.

"I understand if that's something that could concern some people," said Matos.

"But at the same time, I feel completely prepared. If I was not prepared, I would not be here and I hope that in one or two months everyone feels much more confident with everything.

"I'm here to try and to turn it around that's for sure."

Swansea chief executive Tom Gorringe said the Championship club made use of statistical analysis during the recruitment process, metrics from Matos' time at Maritimo placing him on the list of candidates before a detailed presentation on what is needed at Swansea won him the job.

Matos also had the blessing of some former players who were consulted, not to mention minority owner Modric, the Croatia and Real Madrid great.

"He was included in the process, not directly, so he's due to speak to Vitor shortly but hasn't done so yet," said Gorringe, adding that the two were due to speak in more detail in the coming days.

"Luka's been aware of a lot of the process as we move through it. He was privy to the technical presentation and got the chance to review that - and he was a strong advocate of where we've ended up.

"The more information that becomes available the more research you do, the more conversations you have, that risk level reduces.

"Throughout the process, Vitor's been exemplary in every single area and ultimately you get more information and you do more due diligence, and you get more of a feeling for each other and how it's going to work.

"As we've gone through that process, we've just become more and more convinced this is the right fit."

On the face of it, the Matos-Swansea connection seems like a logical one.

Matos says he is a long-time admirer of the Swans, especially the work of previous managers Martinez, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup.

This stylish, possession-based philosophy brought success and silverware.

Now Matos wants to replicate that, whilst also adopting the high-intensity methods he learned under Klopp.

"When I remember Swansea, something that distinguished the club was that there was a clear identity, there was a clear DNA," said Matos.

"Somehow, we started losing that and that's what we need to rebuild together. So that's what the fans can expect. They can expect a clear identity, they can expect that, step by step, we are going in that direction.

"It will take time of course, there will be ups and downs in terms of consistency and we need to find that consistency in our way of playing, and in the end we will all be proud of what we can do on the pitch.

"We will need to try to improve and that's the most important thing, that's what they can expect, that in the end we can become dominant team with and without the ball, an aggressive team pressing and an aggressive team with the ball, a team that counter-presses is part of the DNA as well, so that's what they can expect."