Fabrizio Romano has pointed out that Liverpool have one significant task to complete before they can proceed with choosing Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Anfield.
Amid the seismic shock of the 56-year-old announcing on Friday that he’ll be leaving at the end of this season, it may have gone largely unnoticed that Jorg Schmadtke’s time as sporting director will end on Thursday night once the January transfer window shuts.
That duly leaves the Anfield hierarchy with two massive vacancies to fill, and the Italian reporter pointed out that the latter role will need to be boxed off first before the search for a new manager can truly begin.
In his Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside on Sunday morning, following the news that Xavi is to step down as Barcelona coach once the current campaign ends, Romano highlighted one significant difference between the two clubs’ situations.
He wrote: “I can guarantee that with Barcelona it will take time, because it has to be decided by Joan Laporta but also other people in the Barca board, including Deco, while in the case of Liverpool they want to find a new sporting director.
“My understanding is that Liverpool will work on a new director and then appoint a new manager – they have to re-structure the board and then hire the manager, whereas at Barcelona they already have Deco in place as director.”
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Amid all the attention which has understandably been focused on who replaces Klopp, the immediate priority for Liverpool is to appoint a successor to Schmadtke, who’d made it clear from the outset last May that he wouldn’t be in it for the long haul at Anfield.
It leaves the Reds needing to bring in a third sporting director since Michael Edwards’ departure the summer before last, an instability which is very much at odds with the lengthy rein of the man whose reputation soared amid a flurry of masterful transfer activity on Merseyside.
At least we have some wriggle room for appointing the next manager, with Klopp in situ for another four months, but the search for Schmadtke’s replacement will ideally be a short one if he’s moving on in the next few days (albeit that it’d be inadvisable to aimlessly rush into it, given the importance of the position).
Once that task has been fulfilled, the new sporting director can have their input on selecting the 56-year-old’s successor in the dugout. In the meantime, let’s hope Barcelona don’t seize upon any managerial candidates who’ve been on the Anfield wish list.
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