I think there is always a possibility.
Whoās getting outraged over semantics?
The job scopes and responsibilities are rather different, which is something you are quite clearly clueless about. Everything thatās been said and reported about Edwardsā responsibilities point towards him having nothing to do with the operations at Liverpool except general oversight. If heās going to be involved with this, (a) why would we bother hiring Hughes, and (b) why would he come back?
Ian Graham said recently in an interview that Edwards did not want to be a director of football anymore, that heās not interested in doing any of that work. But of course itās all semantics to someone as ignorant as you.
Zubimendi Kudus and Branthwaite on Deadline day
The other two threads need to happen.
@Nikola
Perhaps gone a bit beyond the line thereā¦
Correct me if Iām wrong but I donāt recall from Grahamās interview that Edwards is ānot interested in doing any of that work.ā
Rather it seems like Edward hired Hughes to do his old job and as a boss would now oversee him.
I think he specifically said that basically those who left over the past few years left because they were tired with the jobs they were doing, rather than because of internal conflicts and disillusionment with the owners.
Also that Edwards received quite a few offers to be director of football elsewhere but wasnāt interested, and that his main motivation for joining Ludonautics was so he could build that philosophy/model (my words) into multiple clubs rather than just one.
Think of it as even more meta: where the director of football chooses the manager and evaluates their progress along with how to build a team around him better, Iām betting that he does the same to the football department in each of the clubs heās supposed to be responsible for. I donāt think heās going to get involved in transfers personally but will be examining Hughesā performance, as an addition to evaluating prospective acquisition targets for FSG and how he could transform them.
If he was to get involved with transfers himself, as suggested by the post I originally replied to, then that would completely defeat the point. At that rate he might as well fire Hughes and do the job himself.
I was going to argue the same thing as @redalways , but re-reading the Iam Graham interview in question(Dr Ian Graham on why he left Liverpool, Michael Edwards return and truth about FSG spending - Liverpool Echo), itās not clear to what level Edwards will be involved in terms of transfer as the football CEO.
Thinking back about Mike Gordon reported role, it seems to me itās likely Edwards will still be part of the transfer decision process, obviously not in the small details or negotiation, but to oversee the overall process and evaluate the outcome.
Whether he is directly rubber stamping every potential signing will remain a matter of conjecture and can be argued both ways.
ā he was laughing when commenting on Zubimendi so probably just being sarcastic.ā (in the comments)
Thatās what I meant. He will not have a direct role, but probably be more interested in how we can better support the recruitment side of things, the processes we can improve in order to be more efficient.
None of that other rubbish that the original post containedā¦
Also, Arne said that him and Hughes were the ones looking at the potential of signings
Thanks.
Actually the most interesting tidbit from the Graham interview was that he felt that he had become redundant since his team was able to replicate what he did, but perhaps even better. Itās a sign that weāre perhaps in better hands than we think. The question is whether the market has taken a fundamental structural shift, and if so, whether we have been able to adapt to that. Signing Mac Allister and Szoboszlai seems to have suggested so, but as pointed out elsewhere on this thread, the future of our right-wing and left-back are causes for concern.
In what way?
No obvious heir. Weāre probably fine for the next couple of seasons, but then what?
Iām less concerned on those (cover for Mo if he is unavailable is perhaps the bigger concern of the two for me right now). I think especially with a permanent DoF back in place longer term planning is probably a bit easier than it was the last couple of seasons under Klopp. Arne also seems more like Rafa than Klopp with less attachment to individual players, so āhard decisionsā might be taken rather quickly and the recruitment side can plough ahead as desired.
Where I think it becomes an issue is if it gets tangled with being forced to having to make a significant number of changes to the squad in a very short space of time (if Virg, Alisson and Trent want to go next summer, Nunez doesnāt fit the new system etc). However, if those decisions can be spread out (new contracts signed, forwards blend perfectly with Nunez hitting his stride etc) then I donāt see too many problems.
What is the fundamental structural shift you are referring to?
Can someone post the link to the new thread where something is happening/weāre close to sign someone?
It appears the link is currently down, the issue will be attended to shortly.
See if this works.
I think itās about changes in player valuations, and perhaps how transfers occur (or not). For example, unless Iām mistaken, we got both Mac Allister and Szoboszlai in by triggering their release clauses, not by extensive negotiations and haggling around the price, while the reporting around Lavia, a failed transfer, was that we were trying to do precisely the opposite and ended up roughly where Southampton wanted anyway. In that sense perhaps the market is becoming one where value is oriented around how player contracts are structured, rather than being an open market as it may have been before. I think there was also a discussion about how itās possible that more players are attempting to move by free transfers in an attempt to capture more of the value of their transfers for themselves through signing bonuses.
But I might just be talking out of my arse since I have no evidence (nor time to find it) to support my case.
You got my hopes upā¦