Much has been made of the work Richard Hughes has done in the almost two years since he joined Liverpool back in 2024.
When Richard Hughes arrived from Bournemouth as part of Michael Edwards’ Anfield reboot, expectations were sky‑high that Liverpool would quickly rebuild a title‑challenging squad. Instead, his first summer window was strikingly restrained: the only major signing was Federico
That conservative approach sparked debate but also a degree of patience, with many fans accepting that Hughes wanted a full season to assess what he had inherited before tearing things up.
The response came a year later, when Liverpool sanctioned a huge outlay of around £450m on signings including Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, a window many initially hailed as the structural reset the squad badly needed.
For a while, the mood music around Hughes flipped from cautious skepticism to cautious optimism as Liverpool looked to have re‑tooled their attack and midfield for the long term.
But as the torrid 2025/26 season unraveled and injuries bit, though, the conversation around Hughes shifted again. Sections of supporters increasingly focused on what Liverpool did not do: namely, build enough depth at the back, particularly at centre‑back.
The failure to get a deal over the line for Marc Guehi – who was heavily linked but ended up at Manchester City– has become a shorthand for that frustration, with many feeling Liverpool were again one defender short of a complete squad.
Against that backdrop, some surprising links have emerged from Saudi Arabia. Erem News (citing Saudi Sports Centre) have claimed that Al‑Hilal are “very close” to appointing the Scottish sporting director, currently at Liverpool, to lead their football department in Riyadh. Saudi outlets frame the move as part of Al‑Hilal’s wider push to import elite European decision‑makers.
It is claimed:
“Al-Hilal’s management is seeking to contract with a foreign sports director with European experience, to organize the team’s administrative, financial and contractual affairs and conclude deals.”
“Saudi Sports Channels revealed that Al-Hilal’s management is close to signing the Scottish Richard Hughes, the sporting director of English side Liverpool.”
They add Al‑Hilal view the sporting director role as crucial to sustaining their recent domestic dominance and deep runs in Asian competition, and Hughes has emerged as the leading candidate from “one of the big European leagues”.
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