After rejecting the offer to return to Liverpool as sporting director out of hand, Michael Edwards has now met with Fenway Sports Group over a different role.
That is according to the Merseyside press, who believe Edwards’ meeting with Liverpool owner John W Henry and FSG president Mike Gordon was to discuss a wider role.
It comes just over a week on from reports that the 44-year-old would demand significant control over football operations if he were to return after two years away.
The Times‘ Paul Joyce explains that, after Edwards attended the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston, he held talks with Henry and Gordon in the same city on Sunday.
While there is no indication at this stage whether those conversations had a positive conclusion, it is explained that “clarity on whether Edwards will be tempted to return to Anfield is expected soon.”
Andy Hunter of the Guardian adds that Edwards “would be expected to head the recruitment and analytics departments.”
This would include appointing a sporting director and, of course, the next manager, with Joyce suggesting that outgoing Bournemouth technical director Richard Hughes could fill the former role.
When it comes to Jurgen Klopp‘s successor, Joyce, Hunter and the Telegraph‘s Chris Bascombe all maintain that Xabi Alonso is the leading candidate.
However, Bascombe adds that Liverpool “will have contingency plans in the unlikely event that Alonso rejects the chance to meet FSG officials.”
Sporting CP’s Ruben Amorim is named by all three journalists as an alternative, though Alonso is said to be “acutely aware of Liverpool’s interest.”
Edwards has effectively been out of football since his decision to leave the Reds in 2022, instead serving as a consultant for sports advisor company Ludonautics.
Ludonautics was founded by Ian Graham, the former Liverpool director of research, who himself only left the club last year.
