Michael Edwards is about to accept an offer to return to Liverpool in a new, expanded position where he will be in charge of football operations.
The Merseyside club’s hierarchy have been trying to convince their former sporting director to return to Anfield since Jurgen Klopp informed them he would be stepping down at the end of the season.
Klopp made that decision back in November – although did not announce it until January – but efforts to persuade Edwards to oversee the new, post-Klopp era were initially unsuccessful.
The 44-year-old left Liverpool in 2022 and has been working in a consultancy role with sports advisory business Ludonautics, also rejecting offers from other Premier League clubs including Chelsea.
It was going to take something significant to lure Edwards back into a club role and, according to The Athletic, Liverpool have now managed to finally turn his head.
Edwards will lead a reorganization of the club and take charge of the club’s football operations, leading and guiding Liverpool’s transition into the post-Klopp era.
He will have a sporting director working beneath him, with former Bournemouth technical director Richard Hughes set to take the role after leaving the south-coast club this week.
Although the deal for Edwards to return has not been rubberstamped just yet, talks are progressing at such a pace that it could be completed early next week.
One of the first items on the agenda for Edwards will be finding a successor to Klopp and he is expected to be the leading voice in the hunt for the new manager.
According to the Athletic’s report, Liverpool managed to convince their former sporting director to return by offering a role ‘with far broader capacity that encompasses Liverpool’, rather than specifically returning to Anfield.
Edwards is credited with being the recruitment mastermind that built the team and squad that saw Klopp end Liverpool’s long wait to lift the Premier League title.
In addition to big-money signings like Virgil van Dijk and Alisson, he also secured bargain deals for the likes of Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah as well as securing big fees for departing players.
His first challenge this time around will be identifying the ideal candidate to replace Klopp, with Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso the current frontrunner, although the likes of Ruben Amorim and Roberto De Zerbi are also in the frame.
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