Liverpool fans can rest assured that the club’s ‘preparatory work’ to bolster the squad this summer has already been undertaken.
There’s no understanding that Michael Edwards would have been key to business being conducted in the transfer window.
Paul Joyce reported for The Times that sporting director Richard Hughes, rather than his now former colleague, will be responsible for executing strategy.
It would be remiss of us to suggest that Edwards’ exit – as part of the general feeling of unrest behind the scenes – won’t have some kind of net negative impact on Liverpool’s business. Albeit certainly more down to the general disruption behind the scenes, rather than due to the ex-Tottenham employee’s serious involvement in our recruitment.
Certainly, as Joyce rightly points out, the club’s former sporting director returned to L4 on the basis that he’d be leading FSG’s planned foray into multi-club ownership.
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With the 47-year-old having since departed, and Hughes expected to follow suit at the end of the window, amid interest from the Saudi Pro League, there’s a growing sense of concern that Liverpool may underdeliver this summer.
An outcome, we should emphasise, which would be simply unacceptable, given the obvious need for reinforcements following the appointment of Andoni Iraola.
It’s worth pointing out that this is a far from simple window for the Reds to conduct.
Yes, the need for bodies is evident, but there needs to be a degree of careful planning, given ongoing unanswered questions about aspects of the squad. For instance:
There are an awful lot of questions to be answered, and little in the way of evidence that Hughes is answering them.
Of course, it’s worth acknowledging that the manner in which Liverpool do their business generally means a great deal of secrecy is involved.
Would any of us be entirely surprised to see one signing announced each week moving forward? Most of which appeared at least partly out of the blue.
As long as the numbers come in and Andoni Iraola can commit to a playing style that would appear to suit us down to a T, Richard Hughes can leave for Saudi with his head held (relatively) high.
But the fear is, at the moment, the club’s recruitment team is going to leave Arne Slot’s successor with a hand no amount of bluffing will fix.
At the very least, it seems we’re all in agreement about who bears ultimate responsibility for how our window transpires – regardless of whether or not we’re all happy with the outcome come our opening league game against Newcastle on August 23rd.
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