Arne Slot faces an immediate transfer problem at Liverpool that Jurgen Klopp has never experienced

As Liverpool’s first official sporting director between 2016 and 2022, Michael Edwards’ reputation took no small boost.

While he famously refused to talk about his time in the Anfield recruitment department, Edwards’ work helped Jurgen Klopp build the kind of squad that won every major trophy in football between 2019 and 2022.

The likes of Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Alisson Becker were all signed on Edwards’ watch and it was Liverpool’s success in the transfer market, particularly between 2016 and 2018, that gave Klopp the tools to to build the great. the team that won the Champions League and then the Premier League within 12 months of each other.

READ MORE: ‘A thousand questions’ – Pep Lijnders on Liverpool’s Arne slot decision and Mike Gordon’s advice

READ MORE: Michael Edwards’ control, Mike Gordon doubts – Inside the FSG review and what it means for Liverpool

As a result, Edwards and his famously low profile have reached mythic levels among the club’s fans and as the ‘CEO of Football’ at Anfield – which was the bespoke job title given to him on his return to the Fenway Sports Group earlier this an – supporters worried about the move from Klopp will be reassured by his presence at Liverpool once again, because of the record.

And while Edwards will not be leading negotiations this summer at Anfield, the appointment of Bournemouth’s Richard Hughes as sporting director has been approved by the director of football, whose long-standing desire to work with his former Portsmouth colleague will in end, now it’s done for the Reds.

Hughes, however, will not enjoy the same kind of trappings afforded Edwards during his time in the role, given that Klopp is no longer at the helm as Liverpool manager.

Make no mistake, for all the plaudits Edwards has won both in public and private, at a time when Liverpool have developed into one of the elite teams in world football, his work will be helped considerably by the desire for targets transfer to come on board and play for Klopp.

It was something Dominik Szoboszlai did not understand last summer, saying: “The manager called me and that was the final decision to say, ‘OK, I want to join them.’ Because of that energy, what I said before, the way Klopp talks to the players, on and off the pitch, so of course I’m very happy.”

Speaking about the moment his chance to join Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund slipped his mind while playing in Austria, Sadio Mane revealed in 2016: “I told myself to keep working hard, push myself and it will something big is coming. I did this. I went to Southampton, I played well and then Klopp wanted me again. Now I’m lucky enough to work with one of the best managers in football. It was meant to happen and I’m very happy to learn from him all the time.”

“He’s a special character, for sure,” Van Dijk reflected earlier this month. “He’s an icon. He wanted me and me alone, he felt I was a big part of the success that could happen and I could definitely contribute to that. I’m glad everything went well. The club is one of the big reasons but it was the whole package and the manager was great.

“When I had to think about it and make the decision, I had to take the whole package – the club, the manager and everything he planned to happen – and there were no guarantees, but it was a big motivation for me to come here. and I’m glad I did, with the success I’ve had.”

As one of the most famous and charismatic managers in the modern game, it was understandable why so many players wanted to work with Klopp as much as move to a club of Liverpool’s stature.

For all the confidence the AXA Training Center have in new head coach Arne Slot, that’s clearly something Klopp’s successor doesn’t yet have. At the age of 45, the Dutchman’s reputation has yet to travel too far outside the Eredivisie, meaning transfer targets will need to be sold with a different vision to that which has stood the test of time over the past eight-odd years.

For Hughes, that represents a whole new challenge, even if Liverpool’s allure lives on alongside their ability to deliver Champions League football.