Safety first as Edwards is back to reshape Liverpool

New CEO appears to have spent summer avoiding mistakes

- RICHARD JOLLY

One architect of Liverpool’s rise had a strange anonymity. Michael Edwards was the transfer guru who helped build Premier League- and Champions League-winning sides on budget. Yet when he returned to Anfield this year as Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football, Liverpool’s search for a photograph of Edwards took some time. The one they eventually found, from when Jurgen Klopp signed his contract extension, still came with the German’s arm around Edwards’ shoulder.

That low profile is a reason why a mystique surrounds Edwards. His first summer back – though not in his old role, with his friend Richard Hughes appointed sporting director – has brought some reminders of his initial spell, but without the arrivals many anticipated. There are some signs of future planning but there is much else to resolve.

When Edwards was sporting director, Liverpool used to have a profitable business selling young players, often to Hughes at Bournemouth. In the last couple of months, they have made £62m by allowing Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to join Brentford and Bobby Clark to go to RB Salzburg, all with sell-on clauses and when none, arguably, would have made the bench if everyone is fit. But Edwards’ Liverpool had a tendency to swoop in for targets and act decisively: instead, Martin Zubimendi, earmarked as the first signing, has decided to stay at Real Sociedad.

The £10m deal for Federico Chiesa felt opportunistic; it came at a price where Liverpool cannot lose much. Maybe it had similarities with the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri, another talent picked up on the cheap at 26. The purchase of Giorgi Mamardashvili, who has been loaned back to Valencia, may mean Liverpool replace perhaps the world’s best goalkeeper, in Alisson, with potentially the finest of the next generation.