Michael Edwards’ role at Liverpool has relatively gone under the radar during his time at the club, but that hasn’t stopped him from playing an influential role behind the scenes, especially in the transfer sector.
In his journey so far, Edwards had been an analyst at Portsmouth under Harry Redknapp, whereby in his time at Fratton Park he was promoted to Head of Analysis. In 2009, Edwards then swapped the South East for the capital at Tottenham Hotspur under Redknapp again, where he continued with analysis and helped put together a new analysis department at White Hart Lane.
Edwards then joined Liverpool in 2011 as Head of Performance and Analysis and two years on was promoted to Director of Technical Performance, then a further two years on he became Technical Director whereby he oversaw scouting, analysis and research.
His job looked under question when Brendan Rodgers was at the helm as the Northern Irishman did state: “I was always going to work with a team of people, rather than a director of football. I always think the manager is the technical director”. That does go a long way to explaining why despite Fenway Sports Group (FSG) wanting a sporting director in place since 2012, it didn’t actually come to fruition until Jurgen Klopp took the reins.
In late 2016, Edwards landed the role as Sporting Director that he so proficiently does to this day in which he has Klopp’s backing as he was the one to convince him into the role. Edwards now takes a lead in the player recruitment department, for negotiations with current players to extend their contract and new players to add to the team.
The 37-year-old has done a remarkable job since his promotion, negotiating with clubs to sign a new core for a next generational Liverpool side that Klopp can instil his philosophy into. Allison, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah have all been recruited as a result of Edwards’ expertise and all of the names will help Liverpool to challenge on all four fronts for years to come.
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