While the club broke transfer records, the problem for the transfer guru was what they could not buy. Or did not, anyway.
Liverpool's summer departures will include Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and, now, Michael Edwards; in his first stint at Anfield, perhaps the most celebrated sporting director in the game. In his second, as Fenway Sports Group's CEO of football, a man heading a multi-club operation with a solitary club.
Edwards' decision to move on, a year before the end of his lucrative contract, was made last autumn, when he handed in his notice. It predated much of Liverpool's troubled season and the sacking of Arne Slot, if not the record outlay of £450m on players, and £125m on Alexander Isak, last summer.
But when he was persuaded to return, it was supposedly to head up a bigger project. FSG looked at a host of other clubs – Malaga, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and 20 or more others – but bought none. The outlay was of more than half a billion on players, including this summer's additions, but nothing on clubs. FSG was not to become Merseyside's answer to the City Football Group or (perhaps thankfully) BlueCo.
It also invited the question of what Liverpool's collection of directors of football all did. Edwards brought Julian Ward back, as FSG's technical director, and recruited Pedro Marques, as their director of football development, while Richard Hughes, an ally from his Portsmouth days, was his appointment as sporting director of Liverpool.
Liverpool's summer departures will include Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson and, now, Michael Edwards; in his first stint at Anfield, perhaps the most celebrated sporting director in the game. In his second, as Fenway Sports Group's CEO of football, a man heading a multi-club operation with a solitary club.
Edwards' decision to move on, a year before the end of his lucrative contract, was made last autumn, when he handed in his notice. It predated much of Liverpool's troubled season and the sacking of Arne Slot, if not the record outlay of £450m on players, and £125m on Alexander Isak, last summer.
But when he was persuaded to return, it was supposedly to head up a bigger project. FSG looked at a host of other clubs – Malaga, Bordeaux, Toulouse, and 20 or more others – but bought none. The outlay was of more than half a billion on players, including this summer's additions, but nothing on clubs. FSG was not to become Merseyside's answer to the City Football Group or (perhaps thankfully) BlueCo.
It also invited the question of what Liverpool's collection of directors of football all did. Edwards brought Julian Ward back, as FSG's technical director, and recruited Pedro Marques, as their director of football development, while Richard Hughes, an ally from his Portsmouth days, was his appointment as sporting director of Liverpool.
3 months ago
