'I signed Richard Hughes and worked with Michael Edwards - they are great together'

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It has been a busy summer of transfers for Liverpool, with sporting director Richard Hughes getting a number of deals over the line already both ins and outs.

Now back in as an FSG employee, CEO of football Michael Edwards has also been working hard. And former Premier League boss Harry Redknapp, who worked with both during the early parts of their careers, is a big fan of what they have done at Anfield so far.

Ex-Parma wonderkid Geovanni Leoni was snapped up this week, while Ben Doak is expected to end up at Bournemouth. And Liverpool could still bring in more players, with Alexander Isak and Marc Guehi liked.

"Liverpool don’t want to be a one-season wonder," Redknapp told Bet Victor. "Winning the Premier League again is a big thing, and obviously they're looking at the Champions League as well this year.

"They probably feel they can go all the way in the Champions League. They've brought Richard Hughes in. I signed Richard as a player back in the day he came to Portsmouth.

"I signed him and Eddie Howe together as a pair from Bournemouth. Richard's got incredible knowledge, and he's an amazing sporting director, having done a great job at Bournemouth over the years.

 (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Arne Slot new head coach of Liverpool and Richard Hughes sporting director of Liverpool during thier first press conference at AXA Training Centre on July 05, 2024 in Kirkby, England. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Richard Hughes and Arne Slot have been busy men this summer

"He got headhunted by Liverpool, and he's the man behind the signings now. Michael Edwards again who worked for me Portsmouth, I gave him his first ever job when he was about 16.

"The pair of them are great together. They've signed good players, Liverpool, and they're just going to get stronger and stronger, I think."

On the opening night in the Premier League, Liverpool beat Bournemouth by four goals to two with new signing Hugo Ekitike scoring. Federico Chiesa netted a late winner before Mohamed Salah made the points safe.

"I think I’ve emphasized last week the fact that we have lost three or four starters and, unfortunately, Ryan Gravenberch was not able to play last week and is not able to play this week," Arne Slot said in his pre-match press conference.

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"So that means if you exclude the goalkeeper from the 10 outfield positions, five were different than the main starters we had last season. If you then look at the quality we bring on the ball, I’m very happy with that.

"Without the ball, it’s eight out of 10 times also very good but the aim at this club is not eight out of 10 times, it’s 10 out of 10 times. And that is the fine-tuning we still need to find defensively.

"That went in pre-season one time better than the other one. Against [Athletic Club] Bilbao I was really, really pleased with our defensive performance because we didn’t give away any chance I think at all from open play.

"But we did concede [from] two set-pieces. Against [Crystal] Palace the main chances we conceded were when we lost the balls ourselves."

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