The new sporting director of Liverpool is Richard Hughes.

Richard Hughes, 44, has been named Liverpool’s new sports director. Hughes will begin his new position on June 1 and his first assignment will be to replace Reds manager Jurgen Klopp, who is leaving Anfield at the end of the current campaign.

At the end of this season, Richard Hughes, who has been confirmed as Liverpool’s new sporting director, will take up his new position.

Hughes, 44, was the technical director at Bournemouth for ten years before he recently left the position. This is Michael Edwards’s first appointment as the CEO of football at Fenway Sports Group [FSG].

Jorg Schmadtke, who assumed the position in May of last year, is replaced by Hughes, albeit temporarily, as he plans to leave after the January transfer window.

Edwards has long yearned to collaborate with Hughes, and the two have enjoyed a professional and personal relationship that dates back more than 20 years. During Hughes’s playing days at Portsmouth, Edwards served as the head analyst for the south coast team under manager Harry Redknapp.

Hughes speaks three languages and has strong connections in his native France and Italy. He also brings a track record of acquiring young players to Liverpool, having brought players like Nathan Ake, Dominic Solanke, Callum Wilson, and Aaron Ramsdale to Bournemouth.

Curiously, Hughes is acquainted with the agent of Xabi Alonso, the man rumoured to be Liverpool’s managerial target; he brought Andoni Iraola to the Vitality last summer. Hughes was also reportedly keen for Roberto De Zerbi, another player thought to be on the shortlist to replace Jurgen Klopp, to manage Bournemouth.

It is said that Edwards was shocked Hughes was not chosen for an interview with the club’s owners, FSG, after Julian Ward resigned from his position as sporting director of Liverpool last summer.

“I am so honoured to have been given this chance. Hughes stated on the team’s website, “Liverpool FC is a special club, and I’m thankful to be given the opportunity to serve it in this capacity.

“While it’s true that this institution has a rich past, what really interests me are the present and future.

Making wise decisions will be my responsibility as I collaborate with Michael and oversee the established football operations team in addition to the AXA Training Center’s broader workforce.

“That’s essentially what the job involves: you have to make the kind of wise choices that increase the likelihood that your team will succeed and thrill the fans.

“It is what Liverpool have done well for a very long time and the benefits are there for everyone to see.”

Finding a replacement for Klopp, who revealed in January that he would be departing the team at the end of the season, will be among Hughes’s first tasks.

As the contracts of the trio—Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and vice captain Trent Alexander-Arnold—come to an end in the summer of 2025, Hughes will also need to attempt and persuade them to sign new agreements at Anfield.

Edwards responded to the news of today by saying, “I’m thrilled Richard has agreed to join us in this very important position.

“I’ve known him for half of my life, both personally and professionally, and he truly epitomises Liverpool FC’s core principles. I have total faith in him.

“He has a proven track record of making wise judgements that are advantageous to the organisations he represents and excellent judgement.

Richard and I are both conscious of the heavy burden of responsibility that comes with holding this position for a club like this. What matters is that the challenge ahead of him excites and energises him.

“Everyone can see that Jürgen will leave a legacy that needs to be built upon, and in Richard, we have the appropriate person to provide the leadership and make the important decisions that will propel us into a promising future.

“As one very successful chapter will come to a close for Liverpool in the summer, the objective of everyone here is for another one to begin – and with Richard I am confident we have the right person in position for us to achieve this aim.”

“Hughes has performed amazing work at Bournemouth.”

“Hughes has over ten years of experience at Bournemouth, seven of those years were spent in the Premier League. The club’s chief executive, Neill Blake, and he get along well extremely well. Eddie Howe helped him build the team through the leagues.

“He oversaw the hiring department and managed a group of exceptionally skilled employees, but in the end, he and the manager and the chief executive made the final decision on who was hired.

“He has worked as a technical director at the highest level for a fair number of years and has a great understanding of the Premier League and all the major leagues in Europe. Given their limited resources, Bournemouth has demonstrated remarkable skill in developing young players during the transfer window. They have had to be resourceful and ingenious in their approach.

Perhaps most crucially, Hughes speaks three languages, has a proven track record of signing young players, and has great ties in France (Bournemouth’s parent business owns 33 percent of Lorient). He also has a great relationship with [new FSG CEO of Football] Michael Edwards.

“And Bournemouth also signed a number of players from Serie A during Hughes’s time there – with him having grown up in Italy, he also has good connections there.”