Michael Edwards has rejected an offer from Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group, it is claimed, as the post-Jurgen Klopp restructuring plans get underway.
It is now a year-and-a-half since Edwards vacated his role as sporting director at Liverpool, and he is yet to return to an established role in football.
Instead, the 44-year-old has been working as a consultant for Ludonautics, the sports advisory company founded by former Reds director of research Ian Graham.
But the news that Klopp and his staff will leave Liverpool this summer – and Jorg Schmadtke will depart even sooner at the end of the current transfer window – has prompted speculation over a return for Edwards.
While it had been maintained that Edwards would not return to football as a sporting director, there were suggestions that he could instead take up a more senior position.
According to journalist Fabrizio Romano, FSG approached their former employee over the weekend with regards to that possibility.
Their plan, he claims, was to “offer to be in charge of the restructure at the club.”
But Edwards is said to have rejected their proposal “as he’s not interested even in a more senior role as of today.”
The timing of this news is certainly questionable, particularly as FSG have known about this upheaval since November and only acting now would have put them on the back-foot.
Either way, whether that closes the door completely on Edwards working with Liverpool or FSG remains to be seen, but there has never been an indication that he would return.
In October, The Athletic’s James Pearce reported that Edwards had already rejected a number of approaches over becoming a sporting director elsewhere.
Chelsea, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and more recently Man United have all been credited with interest in the man who helped mastermind the club’s success under Klopp.
But his continued work with Ludonautics, along with this latest update, would suggest that Edwards is happy in his current role.
In an open letter explaining his decision to leave Liverpool in 2022, he wrote: “I had always planned to cap my time at the club to a maximum of 10 years.
“I’ve loved working here, but I am a big believer in change. I think it’s good for the individual and, in a work setting, good for the employer too.
“Over my time here we have changed so many things (hopefully for the better) but someone new brings a different perspective, new ideas and can hopefully build on (or change) the things that have been put in place beforehand.
“That’s how I believe businesses/football clubs stay ahead; you need to evolve and at the heart of this kind of process is always people.
“That evolution has always been central to Liverpool’s history and I hope that this is one thing that doesn’t change.”
Bournemouth‘s technical director, Richard Hughes, and West Ham‘s technical director, Tim Steidten, have both been tentatively linked with the vacant Liverpool sporting director role this week.
It has been claimed that Liverpool will look to secure their new sporting director before appointing a new manager and that is the club’s priority.
Interestingly, Steidten previously worked at Bayer Leverkusen and was responsible for appointing Xabi Alonso at the German club.
