2 weeks ago
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Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he had a "really good" relationship with Michael Edwards and believes the current sporting director Richard Hughes, who came in from Bournemouth last year, is doing an "incredible" job.
Klopp has dismissed the idea that he ever had a falling-out with Edwards, who stepped away from Liverpool when Klopp was at the helm but has since returned in a more wide-ranging role for Fenway Sports Group, where he is CEO of football. Hughes, meanwhile, was made the Reds' sporting director in 2024.
But while some have speculated that Edwards and Klopp didn't get on — given the exit and then return of the former — the ex-Liverpool boss has outlined how the transfer process worked, and how closely aligned they were.
"The journalists asked me [when I arrived], because they implemented a transfer committee and they didn't want the manager to decide, and I said no problem with that," Klopp said on The Diary of a CEO podcast.
"I'm used to not getting all the players I want. But that anybody in the club can bring in a player you don't agree on, that is not possible.
"It's very normal in football that the manager doesn't get all the players they want. As long as the transfer window is open, you try and create the best possible squad.
"On the day after the transfer window, you have the best possible squad no matter which transfers you have made. And that's the way you go into the rest of the season.
"I have a really good relationship [with Michael Edwards] and he is really great with what he is doing. But it was not on one day his job alone to bring in players — there was Julian Ward, Ian Graham, and so many people who were involved.
"It was a process add we were really close together. We know football players. Negotiating and finding the right moment to sell and to buy, that is the sporting director's job.
"That's what [Edwards] was before and Richard Hughes is now there doing an incredible job. People from outside are idolising — definitely some with me, and some with Michael — but we didn't do the job alone.
"It was always a really good [partnership] and it worked together really well. It didn't have a lot of disagreements. It's a process and a football team is an open book — everyone can read it every day.
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"If we want to add something, it should not be a surprise. You think we need a left-back? We have already four! That doesn't happen. It is a work in progress all the time."
Did Klopp always get on with Edwards and the rest of the recruitment team? "100 per cent," he insisted.
"Michael definitely, and Richard I don't know," Klopp added. "We spoke quite a few times after I left and I like him. They did an incredible job, honestly.
"I always said that I need other people to understand things. My own opinion, I know already. So how can you get a better view? Discussing with people.
"The final decision, I have to make and I have no problem with that. But for that, I need all the people involved. If we want to have an argument, have an argument. And in the end, I will make the decision."
English (US) ·