Richard Hughes explains his new role as Liverpool sporting director

Incoming Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes has explained his new role with the club as essentially being to “make good decisions.”

Hughes has now been announced as the club’s next sporting director, officially taking over the position vacated by Jorg Schmadtke on June 1.

Realistically, both he and Michael Edwards, whose tenure as Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of Football begins on July 1, will already be working behind the scenes on the future of Liverpool.

That includes the appointment of a successor to Jurgen Klopp as manager, along with plans for further recruitment on the pitch this summer.

Speaking to Liverpool’s official website upon the news of his impending arrival, Hughes said: “I am fully aware of the expectations and responsibilities that come with taking this position.

“It will be my job, working with Michael and leading the football operations team already in place, plus the wider staff at the AXA Training Centre, to make good decisions.

“That’s really what the job entails: you have to make the kind of good decisions which enhance the prospects of having a team that wins and excites the supporters.

“It is what Liverpool have done well for a very long time and the benefits are there for everyone to see.”

Though the end of the season will bring unprecedented change on and off the pitch for Liverpool, as Hughes explained, the foundations of success are already in place to build on.

Klopp leaves an elite-level squad with one of the youngest average ages in the Premier League, decorated with world-class players, which the new sporting director believes is “really exciting.”

“I am incredibly proud to be offered this opportunity. Liverpool FC is a unique club and I’m grateful to be given a chance to serve it in this capacity,” Hughes continued.

“People rightly talk about the rich history this organisation can boast, but it is the present and future which really excites me.

“Jurgen Klopp is leading an outstanding team and squad and alongside that the commitment to young players and their pathway to the first team is also outstanding.”