Liverpool recalls Edwards for post-Klopp restructure

AP:

THE MAN who helped underpin much of Liverpool’s success under Jurgen Klopp is returning to oversee the restructuring of the English club when the German manager leaves at the end of the season.

Michael Edwards, Liverpool’s former sporting director, will take up the role of “chief executive of football” at Fenway Sports Group – the United States-based conglomerate whose portfolio of sports teams includes Liverpool.

His tasks will include hiring a sporting director at Liverpool who will be responsible for identifying a replacement for Klopp, who said in January that he will be stepping down after nearly nine years as manager. Among those linked with the upcoming vacancy is Xabi Alonso, who currently coaches German league leader Bayer Leverkusen and used to play for Liverpool.

Edwards will also oversee FSG’s purchase of another football club, he said in a statement published by FSG, which also owns the Boston Red Sox.

Edwards left Liverpool in 2022 after an 11-year association with the team, which included time as sporting director from 2015-22 when he oversaw the signings of Mohamed Salah, Alisson Becker, and Virgil van Dijk. Klopp, who joined in late 2015, has led Liverpool to the Premier League and Champions League titles in that period, as well as multiple domestic cups.

Edwards has rejected numerous offers to return to football after leaving Liverpool and has been doing consultancy work with sports advisory firm Ludonautics. FSG said Edwards will no longer be working for Ludonautics.

FSG President Mike Gordon described Edwards as “one of the most formidable executive talents in world football”.

GREATER SENIORITY

“He returns to us in a role with greater seniority than he held previously and with a wider remit,” Gordon said.

“It was clear when we initially reached out to him that a broader scope would be a key motivating factor for any potential return to the industry. In this regard – and many others – his ambitions matched ours.”

Edwards replaces Gordon as FSG’s day-to-day decision-maker on all football matters and said one of the biggest factors in agreeing to return was “the commitment to acquire and oversee an additional club, growing this area of their organisation”.

“I believe that to remain competitive, investment and expansion of the current football portfolio is necessary,” Edwards said.