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Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes is expected to join Al-Hilal in the coming months.
Hughes has been a name swirling around Saudi Arabia for some time now.
Interest in Liverpool’s sporting director from Al-Hilal is nothing new — reports first surfaced back in October 2025 linking the Riyadh-based outfit with a move for the 46-year-old.
But now reliable reports have emerged that he will be joining the Saudi side imminently.
He will join up with his former Bournemouth colleague Simon Francis according to the Athletic:
However, the Scot is yet to put pen to paper on a contract with the PIF-owned outfit:
“Simon Francis has joined Al Hilal and is leading the club’s transfer activity, with Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes expected to follow his former colleague to the Saudi Pro League side.”
“Hughes, whose Liverpool contract runs through to June 2027, is fully focused on Liverpool’s summer transfer business and supporting the club’s new head coach Andoni Iraola throughout the current market.”
The report adds that the former Bournemouth director will remain at Anfield to oversee this summer window, but it is the expectation that this will be his last transfer window at Liverpool before he moves on to Saudi Arabia later this year:
“Hughes’s contractual situation means this would naturally be his last transfer window at the club before a period of transition which would allow a successor to settle into the role at Anfield.”
“Francis and Al Hilal are currently operating on the basis of Hughes arriving at the Riyadh-based club in due course.”
Francis and Hughes were also players together under Eddie Howe at Bournemouth between 2012 and 2014.
For Liverpool, it all adds up to a decidedly unusual situation.
On the one hand, Hughes is being entrusted with shaping what is an important summer window, working closely with Andoni Iraola on signings.
On the other, he is already lining up his next job and preparing to walk away from Anfield once the market closes. It certainly won’t fill supporters with massive amounts of confidence.