If this report is accurate, I find it extremely difficult to defend.
Richard Hughes was Liverpool’s sporting director. His responsibility should have been Liverpool Football Club, Liverpool’s recruitment and Liverpool’s interests.
Yet reports now claim that Hughes was involved in sorting Al-Hilal’s transfer for Ollie Watkins while Liverpool were still paying his wages.
If that is genuinely what happened, then I think Liverpool supporters have every right to be asking some very serious questions.
How can this be allowed?
Let’s be clear about the issue here.
It’s not simply that Hughes has decided to leave Liverpool and take up another job.
People move on from football clubs all the time.
The problem is the suggestion that while still employed by Liverpool, Hughes was working on transfer business for another club.
And not just any other club.
Al-Hilal.
A club operating in the same football transfer market as Liverpool.
If Liverpool were paying Hughes to be their sporting director, surely his time and attention should have been focused entirely on Liverpool?
Liverpool were paying his wages
This is the part that really bothers me.
If Liverpool were still paying Hughes’ salary while he was helping another club conduct transfer business, supporters are entitled to ask what exactly they were getting in return.
A sporting director isn’t an employee with an ordinary nine-to-five job where you can simply divide your time between two companies.
The decisions made by Liverpool’s sporting director can have consequences worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
Transfers.
Contracts.
Recruitment.
Squad planning.
Negotiations.
All of it requires complete focus.
And Liverpool had plenty to deal with
This wasn’t a quiet period at Anfield.
Liverpool have just gone through a huge period of change.
The club have spent enormous sums rebuilding the squad.
Bradley Barcola arrived for over £100 million,
Munoz also arrived this summer.
There have been significant departures.
Andoni Iraola is trying to establish his own team and style.
Liverpool needed their sporting department working at full capacity.
So if Hughes really was simultaneously helping Al-Hilal with their recruitment, I think it’s completely reasonable to ask:
Why was Liverpool’s hierarchy allowing this?
Who knew?
That’s the question I’d most like answered.
Did Liverpool know?
Was Hughes given permission?
Was there an agreement in place?
Was there a clear separation between his Liverpool responsibilities and whatever he was doing for Al-Hilal?
And most importantly, did Liverpool believe this was acceptable?
Because if the answer is yes, I think supporters deserve an explanation.
The Watkins situation makes it even stranger
The reported involvement in an Ollie Watkins deal makes this even more difficult to understand.
Liverpool should have been concentrating on their own squad.
Instead, we’re now hearing claims that their sporting director was helping another club try to strengthen theirs.
Even if there was no conflict of interest in the strictest sense, it certainly creates an uncomfortable perception.
Liverpool supporters should never be left wondering whether the person responsible for recruitment is giving another club his attention.
This isn’t about being bitter towards Hughes
I don’t have an issue with Richard Hughes wanting to leave Liverpool.
If he wants to join Al-Hilal, that’s his choice.
Good luck to him.
But there is a massive difference between leaving Liverpool to work for Al-Hilal and allegedly working for Al-Hilal while still being employed by Liverpool.
If the latter is what happened, then Liverpool’s hierarchy need to explain why.
My verdict
I don’t want to make accusations without knowing exactly what happened behind the scenes.
But if the reports are correct that Richard Hughes was involved in Al-Hilal’s transfer business, including the Ollie Watkins situation, while Liverpool were still paying his wages, then I think it’s fair to describe the situation as disgraceful.
Liverpool Football Club should have been his priority.
One club. One employer. One responsibility.
The supporters deserve to know whether Hughes was able to give Liverpool his full attention while simultaneously working on another club’s transfer business.
Because if Liverpool were paying his wages, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect Liverpool to get 100% of Richard Hughes.
And if that wasn’t happening, then the bigger question isn’t just what Hughes was doing.
It’s why Liverpool’s hierarchy allowed it.
Jamie (The Kopite View)
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