Richard Hughes can one up Michael Edwards as Liverpool transfer options emerge
Liverpool is currently showing the football world a different way to succeed. Since Richard Hughes arrived as sporting director, with Arne Slot following him through the door not long afterward, transfer business has been minimal — but options are starting to emerge.
Of course, taking a back seat in the transfer market is only a viable strategy when inheriting a strong squad. In that respect, Hughes and Slot could hardly have been luckier.
Veterans like Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, both signed under the initial reign of Michael Edwards, have been instrumental to a run that has lifted Liverpool to the summit of the Premier League and Champions League tables. Hughes has had to face the stress of taking on their contract situations, but on the field, the Reds have become a title-contending outfit with little more than some tinkering from Slot.
READ MORE: Liverpool secures $744M victory as Arsenal overtake easily explained
But Hughes will have the chance to earn his money sooner or later. Brought to the club by long-time friend Edwards, who returned to FSG last year, the student may even get the opportunity to become the master.
In his new role, Edwards is essentially in charge of big-picture strategy. We know from his time as sporting director that this involves some long-term squad planning.
It will be up to Hughes to deliver the transfer targets. And names are starting to emerge that suggests he could finally add a long-term successor to one of the front three.
For all his brilliance, Edwards never truly sourced replacements for Salah, Sadio Mane or Roberto Firmino. Luis Diaz came through the door on his watch, but that was a deal where Julian Ward took the lead as they prepared for the transition, while Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo did not arrive until the following season.
That trio of signings have all had their moments to a greater or lesser extent. But whether they will go on to become synonymous with the Slot reign, as their predecessors did with Jurgen Klopp's tenure, remains somewhat doubtful.
If nothing else, Diaz recently turned 28. With his contract likely to be the next subject of discussion before too long, another left-winger may be on the agenda soon.
The one transfer Hughes has got through the door so far is Federico Chiesa, but the Italian will not be a long-term successor on the left either. He is 27, and seems destined to fulfil something more akin to the Xherdan Shaqiri role, if indeed he is to make any kind of success of his time at Liverpool.
So while the left wing may look like an unlikely priority at first, it might be where Hughes targets next. One name to have emerged recently (via Fabrizio Romano) is Jamie Gittens of Borussia Dortmund.
Nor is he the first transfer target to be mentioned out on the left. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia briefly cropped up before moving to PSG, while names like Karim Adeyemi and Mohammed Kudus date all the way back to Edwards' first spell in charge.
Should Hughes seal this transfer, he would be succeeding where Edwards never did. Gittens looks to have all the qualities to become another potential franchise player in the front line in years to come.
With seven league goals and four assists this season in a struggling Borussia Dortmund side, the former Manchester City youth prospect is really coming into his own. Still just 20, the Englishman is taking plenty of responsibility on his shoulders.
Some of the underlying numbers look a little underwhelming, with Gittens outperforming his expected goals and expected assists by some margin. But Liverpool would be betting on those figures scaling up in a better side, especially with his prime still potentially years away.
Any transfer would no doubt be a collaborative effort, with Hughes and Edwards working in tandem. But if the former can start to construct the next great front line, he will truly have picked up the gauntlet from his mentor.
