When Liverpool approached Jorg Schmadtke to be their sporting director in the summer, he thought the offer was a joke.
Schmadtke, after all, had been in semi-retirement before the call came and represented a somewhat idiosyncratic pick, a name arrived at largely because he would be an ally and support for Jurgen Klopp during an important transfer window. It did not take him long to accept.
It was a strangely out of character move from Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the methodical owners of Liverpool who – i understands – now intend to revert to type as they decide both on Klopp’s successor and a new sporting director to oversee their overarching football strategy.
Indeed the club are currently conducting an internal review of football operations, according to one individual familiar with their ongoing search for a new sporting director.
It is a wide-ranging audit that – intriguingly – is understood to include taking another look at the multi-club model and whether Liverpool should move into that sphere. So far they have been reticent to follow the example of title rivals Manchester City by going down that route.
“They are looking at all the club’s processes and strategies on the football side before bringing people in,” the source said.
“It is a sensible thing to do because replacing Klopp and bringing in a new sporting director are both huge decisions in their own right. Most clubs would have their hands full doing one of those things, but doing both at the same time is a big, big challenge.”
Methodical, meticulous – fans may not always appreciate FSG, but it is a way of doing business that has plenty of admirers and emulators in the game.
The review also illustrates that Liverpool’s hierarchy fully appreciate the complexities of replacing a generational coaching talent like Klopp, who will depart with his entire backroom staff, and the void it leaves. For all the sense of urgency around in-demand Bayer Leverkusen boss Xabi Alonso, getting the right man and set-up rather than rushing into appointing a man of the moment is Liverpool’s priority.
Tweaking the processes and reassigning some of the responsibilities that Klopp accumulated as he built an empire on Merseyside – such as recruitment, for example – probably makes sense given the scale of change that is coming.
The early indications are that Liverpool would prefer to get the sporting director in place before the new manager – but it has been suggested that nothing is especially imminent on that front.
A call in the wake of Klopp’s departure from FSG president Mike Gordon to Michael Edwards, their widely respected former director of football who now runs a sports advisory group Ludonautics, was quickly rebuffed and they are now casting the net wider.
It is Gordon who will make the ultimate call on both manager and sporting director but there is a strong supporting cast of voices, including director of research Will Spearman and Theo Epstein, an FSG advisor, who will contribute.
One Premier League executive who spoke to i feels they are “likely to go abroad again” for their sporting director although an internal appointment or possibly sharing responsibilities between two or more figures who are already at the club is a possibility.
Of the outstanding external candidates, several are now free agents – including Paul Mitchell, the former Monaco and RB Leipzig sporting director. As i reported in the summer they were impressed in conversations with AS Roma’s Tiago Pinto before opting for Schmadtke. Pinto has subsequently left the Serie A club and is now available. Former AC Milan director of football Frederic Massara, mentioned in reports this week, is similarly a free agent and ready to start straight away.
When they have a sporting director in place – or a preferred candidate lined up – the club will be able to accelerate the process of who replaces Klopp and how they build a team around the new man.
They will lean heavily on data analysis, which played a central role in Klopp’s appointment, and that means that the widely held view that Alonso is the only realistic candidate shouldn’t be taken as read.
As i reported earlier this month Alonso is no “slam dunk because FSG don’t do slam dunks” – and they will not compromise the process by rushing into approaching him just because Bayern Munich are now searching for a manager next season.
A source with knowledge of the process has been left in no doubt. “They’re giving the impression of leaving no stone unturned to get this right,” they said.
The top data picks
i commissioned Analytics FC, a football consultancy firm whose data-driven manager ID search has been utilised by clubs across the top four divisions and by leading sides overseas, to identify the closest fits to Klopp to replace him at Anfield.
It is a seriously tough job, as Alex Stewart – Analytics FC’s head of content – admits.
“Klopp was something of a unicorn, tactically brilliant, a motivator, charismatic, attuned to the ethos of the club and indeed the city of Liverpool,” he says.
“He was also comfortable working within a data-driven structure. No-one is going to tick all of those boxes.”
Part of the problem of finding a stylistic fit for Liverpool is that Klopp has developed his style from the gegenpressing coach of 2015 (whose style is categorised as “direct domination”) to someone whose teams now exhibit “full control” (high possession, high pressing and controlling the game in the opposition’s defensive third). Replacing Klopp now means finding a different sort of coach from the one they brought in.
Here’s the top picks – coaches whose teams exhibit high levels of ball control and possession and are playing at elite levels.
Xabi Alonso
The obvious choice tallies pretty well with Liverpool’s current style of play. Would maybe need to invest in a number 10 who can play like Florian Wirtz if he wanted to recreate the style of his Bayer Leverkusen overachievers. The biggest tick from a data perspective is his team’s development from last season – which is a huge argument for bringing him in – and also that Bayer Leverkusen’s reputation is for struggling under pressure, which he seems to have addressed. A clear favourite.
Arne Slot
Has the same “aggression” in longer passes and has generally impressed at Feyenoord. A “good stylistic fit” according to the data, and he was a contender for the Tottenham job last season before they opted for Ange Postecoglou.
Ruben Amorim
Stewart says the Sporting Lisbon coach is a “dark horse” for the role and his teams play in a similar way to the Liverpool class of 2024: keeping the ball and building from the back.
Edin Terzic
A “close overall data fit” whose Borussia Dortmund team try to play a similar way to Liverpool. There are “question marks over their execution”, though, and they are struggling to keep pace in the Bundesliga. And one who is not top of the data picks….
Thomas Frank
A frontrunner according to some but stylistically, not much of a match for the current Liverpool squad. While his teams press and his club are data-driven, like Liverpool, they do not exhibit the same control as the Reds. That could be just because of the players at his disposal, and he certainly has the charisma to handle the move, but it would suggest appointing him is a risk.
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