At the end of the season Liverpool will have to appoint a replacement for Jurgen Klopp with the German deciding to vacate his role in the summer.
As well as finding a successor for the 56-year-old, Liverpool are also searching for a new sporting director after Jorg Schmadtke’s spell with the club ended following the recent January transfer window.
The German joined the Reds last June having previously worked at Wolfsburg, Cologne and Hannover and oversaw some of the club’s business in the transfer market – both incomings and outgoings.
Journalist Ben Jacobs doesn’t believe Liverpool will attempt to bring Julian Ward back to the club, nor will they make a move for former Monaco man Paul Mitchell, but can see the Merseysiders attempting to make current Newcastle figure Dan Ashworth their new sporting director.
“I don’t see Liverpool returning for Ward because he’s left more recently. That’s a Manchester United candidate. I don’t think Ashworth is beyond the realms of possibility because he’s liked by Liverpool. I also think there’s less chance that Liverpool will come in for Mitchell because they’ve looked at him in the past and chose not to move. So, it would be surprising if they returned for him,” Jacobs told GIVEMESPORT (via The Boot Room).
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There are some huge decisions to be made in the summer and it’s vital that FSG make the right appointments.
Schmadtke hadn’t been at the club for long but he had a good relationship with Klopp and thoroughly enjoyed his time at Anfield.
He explained it was a ‘huge honour’ for him to be able to work for the club (via Liverpoolfc.com) but it’s now time for someone else to come in and oversee transfers.
Ashworth, the 52-year-old Englishman, previously held roles with the England national side as Director of Development and Brighton as Technical Director, before taking up his current role at St. James’ Park in May 2022.
He’s a very experienced figure and appears to have tasted success wherever he’s been – it’ll be interesting to see whether he’s the next sporting director to work under FSG.