There’s a good reason why Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards are handsomely reimbursed in the respective job titles that they hold!
Liverpool’s sporting director and FSG’s chief executive of football are on the cusp of overseeing the club-record acquisition for Florian Wirtz for a potential €150m (£127m), with Fabrizio Romano reporting on Tuesday night that a ‘deal in principle’ has been ‘verbally agreed’ with Bayer Leverkusen.
The impending transfer would represent a serious statement of intent by the Premier League champions as they seek to retain their top-flight title next season, and the Anfield hierarchy have been particularly proactive in pushing to get a transaction over the line.
FSG ‘blown away’ by Hughes as Liverpool close in on Wirtz transfer
Journalist Graeme Bailey has now shared an informed projection as to when the deal will be made official, while also outlining how impressed FSG have been with the work carried out by Hughes and Edwards.
The transfer insider said (via TBR Football): “Wirtz will be a Liverpool player by the weekend, and by getting this done now, it allows them to let him get a break. He is entering a World Cup cycle, so he is going to be playing a lot of football over the next 12 months.
“That is a big reason Liverpool wanted this done early in June. They wanted to allow the player time to get things sorted before pre-season.
FSG have been impressed by Richard Hughes for his work on the impending transfer of Florian Wirtz to Liverpool
(Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
“I really can’t explain just how happy Liverpool are behind the scenes with this deal. FSG, the club’s owners, are blown away by the work of Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes – those two have put so much work into this move, not just this month but the lead-up to it also.
“Liverpool are the Premier League’s best on the field, and it’s hard to argue they are the best off the field now too.”
Hughes has already accomplished a lot as Liverpool sporting director
Hughes has been in the sporting director hotseat for just over a year, but he’s already accumulated a tremendous body of work in that time.
Although the 45-year-old faced criticism from some Liverpool fans on social media for overseeing two quiet transfer windows last summer and winter, he succesfully brokered contract extensions for Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk after months of uncertainty.
In recent weeks he moved quickly to secure the signing of Jeremie Frimpong for just £29.5m, and he’s now on the brink of pulling off the statement acquisiton of Wirtz while also closing on on a deal to sign Milos Kerkez.
As Bailey outlines, the Germany playmaker could be just days away from joining the Reds, and that’d give him most of the summer to acclimatise to his new surroundings and ensure that he’s ready to hit the ground running at Anfield once the 2025/26 season begins.
The fee that LFC will pay for the 22-year-old represents something of a high-wire act, but you can be sure that rival fans will be burning with jealousy if the transfer goes through, knowing deep down that the Merseysiders remain the standard bearers in the Premier League right now!
For that, our immense gratitude goes to Arne Slot and his players, as well as shrewd boardroom operators like Hughes and Edwards.