Latest from Sky Sports News’ Vinny O’Connor:The process to appoint a successor to Richard Hughes as Liverpool’s sporting director is well underway. Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group were told by Hughes earlier this year that he was looking for a new challenge and followed on from Michael Edwards departure as FSG chief executive of football. Once Hughes had made his decision it was agreed he would remain in his role until after the transfer deadline. This arrangement made sense given the work already undertaken to identify key targets for the summer window, coupled with his working relationship with new head coach Andoni Iraola.Liverpool are now aiming to make an appointment as early as possible. FSG President Mike Gordon is leading the recruitment process having assumed greater responsibility in terms of the day to day the running of the club after Edwards left. The chosen candidate will work within, what the owners believe, is a robust football structure and there is the potential to turn to an internal candidate.That list includes FSG technical director Julian Ward, FSG director of football development Pedro Marques and assistant sporting director David Woodfine. The advantage here is that all three are already familiar with how the club works, although, it’s important to stress an external appointment has not been ruled out. The new sporting director will look to build on a period in which Hughes oversaw the appointment of two new head coaches. The first arrival was Arne Slot to succeed Jurgen Klopp, who then delivered Liverpool’s 20th league title.
Then, following a difficult title defence resulting in a fifth placed finish, Slot was replaced by Iraola who Hughes already enjoyed a good working relationship with following their time together at Bournemouth. During this period Liverpool also spent big in the transfer market with Hughes overseeing a £670m outlay in the transfer market to overhaul Liverpool’s squad.This included a £125m transfer record for Alexander Isak, £116m for Florian Wirtz and this summer the £106m (possibly rising to £123m) spent on Bradley Barcola. Ultimately, their contribution to any future success along with the likes of Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Hugo Ekitike, Jeremy Jacquet, Giovanni Leoni and Ronald Araujo will determine how Hughes’s legacy is viewed.
