Liverpool can’t hide from facts but FSG decision could completely change next manager race

Micahel Edwards, who accepted a senior role with Fenway Sports Group, will be in charge of Liverpool’s football operations.

Jurgen Klopp has announced he will leave Liverpool at the end of the season (Image: Michael Regan – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

The response to Michael Edwards’ return to Liverpool served as further evidence, if any was required, that the margins in top-tier football are narrower than ever.

In a normal world, Liverpool fans wouldn’t recognize someone in the role of the low-key, interview-shunning Edwards, who this week finalized his return to Anfield as part of a new look role with the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, given the star-studded roster of names that have recently achieved impressive Premier League and Champions League triumphs that have helped deliver the dreams of a generation.

Edwards’ ten-year tenure at the club has, without a doubt, made him a respected figure who is regarded in the same league as contemporary greats like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk. This is because of the significant part he played in overthrowing Manchester City and bringing an end to Liverpool’s thirty-year Premier League title drought through his unheard-of, data-driven success in the transfer market.

Edwards, who joined Anfield in 2011 and had held a variety of positions, was initially named as Liverpool’s first sporting director in November 2016 as part of a reorganization of football operations. He was assisted by Director of Research Ian Graham and his staff, as well as the keen observation of scouts Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter.

READ MORE: Michael Edwards consents to an FSG agreement with the new sporting director of Liverpool.

READ MORE: Michael Edwards discussed his emotional decision to leave Liverpool in 2021.

During this period, Liverpool underwent a remarkable transformation in the transfer market. From being known as the Merseyside Maniacs due to their poor acquisitions of Christian Benteke, Lazar Markovic, and Mario Balotelli, they became the envy of European football, financing the signings of Van Dijk, Alisson Becker, and Fabinho through the shrewd sales of Philippe Coutinho, Jordon Ibe, Brad Smith, Kevin Stewart, and other players.

In 2017, he also played a major role in Mohamed Salah’s transfer from AS Roma, as Jurgen Klopp had originally preferred to trade for Julian Brandt, a forward for Bayer Leverkusen. In fact, Salah has achieved everything possible with the team in the six and a half years since Edwards persuaded the Reds manager to believe differently. He currently holds the fifth-place spot in the Anfield scoring record, above Michael Owen, Sir Kenny Dalglish, Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, and Robbie Fowler. Well worth thirty-seven million, you could say.

It was revealed on Tuesday that the University of Sheffield alumnus had agreed to take on the role of “CEO of Football” within FSG’s empire, following fruitful discussions with the American executives back home.

There’s no denying that Edwards has been given what is perhaps the most difficult assignment in Liverpool’s storied history: the responsibility of selecting a replacement for the legendary Klopp, who has defended the club and the city in a manner not seen at Anfield since the days of Bill Shankly and, subsequently, Dalglish.

But unlike Shankly’s unexpected departure in the summer of 1974, the Reds have no obvious ‘Boot Room’ successor to turn to, on par with Bob Paisley, after assistant manager Pep Lijnders announced his intention to continue his managerial career outside of Anfield’s intense spotlight.

However, after several key players in different departments, including Julian Ward, Graham, and Klopp, ended their stellar Anfield careers in the last 18 months, acquiring the services of data guru Edwards—a target for Manchester United and Chelsea during his two years away from Anfield—is a major coup for owners FSG.

After Edwards accepted a senior role with FSG after initially rejecting talk of a return, Chiefs John Henry, Tom Werner, and Mike Gordon, however, can take great pride in the pitch they are making in a post-Klopp world. It is clear that theirs is a more compelling argument than those made by their counterparts at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford.

“I felt it was essential that, should I return, it would have to be with revitalized strength and enthusiasm,” Edwards stated following the official announcement of his appointment on Tuesday. “In actuality, this entails new chances and challenges.

“Therefore, my decision was primarily influenced by their commitment to grow this branch of their organization by acquiring and managing an additional club. I think that in order to stay competitive, the current football portfolio needs to be expanded and invested in.”

Edwards will have the task of presenting the same compelling vision to Bournemouth’s technical director Richard Hughes, who is set to depart from the Cherries at the end of the season and is still being linked to the vacant sporting director position at Anfield, as well as possibly Xabi Alonso, Rubin Amorim, or Roberto De Zerbi in the upcoming weeks and months as the Reds prepare for life without Klopp for the first time since 2015. Edwards was enticed back to Anfield in a new capacity by FSG.

Edwards might have to keep a low profile during his subsequent visit to Anfield, though, in the interim. He will be remembered these days as FSG’s first big acquisition of the era following Klopp. Don’t undervalue this coup’s magnitude.