Liverpool Reportedly in Talks with Michael Edwards Over Return

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The former sporting director has been approached by FSG to take on a leadership role at the club eclipsing his former position.

Following news earlier in the year that Jürgen Klopp was set to depart the club at the end of the season, one of the first questions was not just who the next manager would be but who the club’s next sporting director would be.

Jörg Schmadtke arrived last summer on a short-term basis to replace Julian Ward, who had himself only been on the job a year following the departure of long-time sporting director Michael Edwards, and it was announced that Schmadtke would depart along with Klopp.

An initial approach to Edwards, who joined Liverpool in 2011 as Chief Analyst and rose to Sporting Director from 2016 through 2022 before leaving to start a consultancy firm, about returning to the club was rebuffed.

Now, though, there are reliable reports including from The Times’ Paul Joyce confirming that a second approach has been made and that the role on offer for Edwards would eclipse his former one—and this follows news that Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan was moving into a role with Fenway Sports Group.

Whether the role on offer for Edwards is in fact CEO of the club has not been confirmed, but it’s difficult not to link the developments, and given the nature of the reports many will further conclude that Edwards re-joining the Reds is all but a done deal.

Should Edwards be set to return to the club, he would then be tasked with appointing a sporting director—with Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes, rumoured to be highly regarded by Edwards, the current favourite—and then manager.

Bayer Leverkusen boss and ex-Red Xabi Alonso remains the heavy favourite on that front for good reason and despite Bayern Munich attempts to unsettle Leverkusen in the Bundesliga title race by leaking their own interest in the Spaniard.

Should Alonso not be available, Sporting’s Rubin Amorim has emerged as rumoured second favourite in recent weeks while the chatter around Roberto De Zerbi, Thomas Frank, and Julian Nagelsmann has largely faded.