Soccer

Michael Edwards agrees Liverpool return to oversee post-Klopp era

Immediate task for Edwards will be to appoint sporting director, with manager to leave Anfield at the end of season

Michael Edwards (left) pictured with Jurgen Klopp and Mike Gordon of FSG back in December 2019. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Michael Edwards (left) pictured with Jurgen Klopp and Mike Gordon of FSG back in December 2019. Photograph: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Andy Hunter
Tue Mar 12 2024 - 11:27

Liverpool’s former sporting director Michael Edwards has agreed to return to the club to oversee the club’s football operations post-Jürgen Klopp.

Edwards met senior executives of Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owner, in Boston recently to discuss the details of his new role and confirmation of his appointment is expected soon. The 44-year-old, who rejected an approach from FSG in January to return as sporting director, will take a more senior position such as head of football operations.

Edwards’ immediate task will be to appoint a new sporting director – Bournemouth’s technical director, Richard Hughes, is favourite for that vacancy – and recruit Klopp’s successor as Liverpool manager. Xabi Alonso, the former Liverpool midfielder who has guided Bayer Leverkusen to the top of the Bundesliga, is the frontrunner.

FSG has made a concerted effort to rehire Edwards, who left Liverpool after 10 highly successful years in 2022 and has rejected numerous approaches from other clubs. He has been working as a consultant at the sports advisory business Ludonautics, a company founded by Liverpool’s former director of research Ian Graham.

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Bournemouth recently announced that Hughes would leave at the end of this season after a decade in their recruitment team. He has been technical director for the past eight years and led the appointment of Andoni Iraola as the head coach last summer. The former midfielder got to know Edwards when he played for Portsmouth, where the latter worked as a performance analyst, and confirmation that he will take the job is expected soon.

FSG has been searching for a permanent sporting director since Julian Ward announced he would be leaving in 2023. Jörg Schmadtke was a short-term appointment to help Klopp with Liverpool’s midfield rebuild last summer and left at the end of the January transfer window.