Arne Slot facing currently Liverpool transfer challenges Jurgen Klopp never experienced 

Regarding transfer targets, Richard Hughes, the new sporting director, will face an early challenge that Michael Edwards never faced.

Given that Michael Edwards served as Liverpool’s first official sporting director from 2016 until 2022, his reputation didn’t require much augmentation.

Although Edwards is infamous for his refusal to discuss his tenure in the Anfield recruitment office publicly, his efforts were vital in helping Jurgen Klopp assemble the kind of club that would win every major football championship from 2019 to 2022.

Under Edwards’ direction, players like Alisson Becker, Fabinho, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah, and others were signed. Liverpool’s success in the transfer market, especially from 2016 to 2018, gave Klopp the resources he needed to assemble the legendary team that won the Premier League and the Champions League in back-to-back years.

Edwards’s infamously low profile became legendary among the club’s supporters as a result. As ‘CEO of football’ at Anfield—the title specifically assigned to him upon his return to the fold of the Fenway Sports Group earlier this year—supporters worried about the move away from Klopp will be reassured by his presence at Liverpool once again because of his track record.

Edwards will not be leading the talks this summer at Anfield, but the CEO of football did approve of Richard Hughes’ appointment as sporting director from Bournemouth. This will finally fulfil the Reds’ long-standing wish to collaborate with their former Portsmouth colleague.

Still, with Klopp no longer leading Liverpool as manager, Hughes will not have the same kind of perks that Edwards had while he held the position.

Without a doubt, transfer targets’ desire to join Klopp’s team has greatly assisted Edwards’ job, despite all the praise he received both publicly and personally during a time when Liverpool became one of the best teams in the world of football.

Dominik Szoboszlai was very upfront about it when he said it last summer: “I made the final decision to join them when I got a call from the manager.” I am naturally very happy because of this energy and, as I already mentioned, the way Klopp interacts with the players both on and off the pitch.”

Sadio Mane said in 2016 of the moment his chance to play for Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund fell through while he was in Austria: “I told myself to just carry on working hard, push myself and something big would come.” That’s what I did. After I played well at Southampton, I was asked back by Klopp. I have the good fortune to be working with one of the top football managers right now. It was destined to happen, and I’m grateful that I can constantly pick his brain for knowledge.

Van Dijk said earlier this month, “He is a special character, definitely.” “He is a legendary figure. He felt that I was a major component of the potential success and that I could undoubtedly help that, thus he wanted me and me alone. It went smoothly, which pleases me.The management has been excellent, and the club is one of the main factors, but it was the full package.

The club, the manager, and everything he had planned to happen had to be taken into consideration when I had to make a decision. There were no promises, but it was a major incentive for me to come here, and I’m glad I did given our level of success.”

Being one of the most well-known and captivating managers in the modern game, it made sense that so many players would have preferred to work with Klopp over joining a team of Liverpool’s calibre.

Even though the AXA Training Centre staff is confident in new head coach Arne Slot, Klopp’s replacement does not yet share that confidence. The 45-year-old Dutchman’s reputation hasn’t expanded too far outside of the Eredivisie, so transfer targets will need to be persuaded to adopt a different strategy than the one that has largely succeeded over the previous eight years.

That poses a whole new problem for Hughes, even though Liverpool’s appeal remains in addition to their capacity to provide Champions League football.