Richard Hughes makes Liverpool transfer promise while sitting next to Arne Slot

Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes remains convinced the club's 2025 summer signings will succeed despite the Reds sitting sixth in the Premier League table

Richard Hughes and Arne Slot speak on the latest instalment of Liverpool's Reds Roundtable(Image: Liverpool FC)

Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes is "convinced" the record-breaking transfer expenditure last summer will prove successful at Anfield.

Hughes, who was confirmed in his role in March 2024, played a crucial part in appointing Arne Slot as Reds head coach several months later. Despite limited business during Slot's inaugural summer transfer window, the Dutchman proceeded to guide Liverpool to a record-equalling 20th title.

However, fortunes have declined this campaign following a squad restructure that witnessed around $600 million invested in new signings and around half that figure recovered through the exits of several key players. Hughes was speaking alongside Slot and Liverpool's chief executive officer, Billy Hogan, during the latest episode of 'The Reds Roundtable.'

He outlined why there was an understanding within the club that the wave of summer arrivals, especially those from overseas, would require time to settle, as has been evident with the recent upturn in form of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike.

"You have to constantly try to help people off the pitch in their adaptation," he said.

"It's normal to expect that young people coming from another country would take time to adjust to their surroundings, a different type of football than they may have been used to.

Arne Slot is struggling to get a tune out of Liverpool this season(Image: Kate McShane/Getty Images)

"So much that isn't necessarily alien but different.

"You want to be there to support them and not suffocate them with it, let them find their own feet.

"All these players are here for a very good reason, they are top players.

"Everybody has played their part in getting them to the club and we were all very happy with what we did in the summer, not just me.

"Whether they are good, bad or indifferent in terms of signings, there's no proprietary felt in my position, it's a collective effort that helps these boys translate their form for which they have been brought to the club and be the best version of themselves.

"As long as the players are the right ones in the first place, and we are absolutely convinced every time we bring someone in that they are, then the performances on the pitch will quickly follow.

"(But) you have to make sure you don't focus just on the new players.

"It's a team sport and just because new people are coming in you can just suddenly leave the players who have been here for a number of years or Federico Chiesa, who has only been here for one year."