“You’re gunna have to go right back against Cristiano!” – Who is Liverpool’s new transfer guru?

The news was announced this week that Liverpool’s sporting director Michael Edwards will leave the club at the end of the season. Current assistant sporting director Julian Ward has already been announced as Edwards’ successor. Many Reds fans may be unfamiliar with Ward, who has been with the club since 2012. Ward’s previous roles included European scouting manager for Spain and Portugal, and loan pathways manager. 

On the latest episode of our Journo Insight Show, we asked Goal’s Neil Jones to give us the lowdown on Liverpool’s incoming Sporting Director. 

Neil said: 

“He’s someone that I’ve known for many years, predating his time at Liverpool. He’s a former pro footballer. Played at Morecambe, born on Merseyside, but not really raised on Merseyside. He was a sports science graduate, so he went down that road. He played a lot in Northern Ireland for Lisburn Distillery. He was a pro but with a sports science background.” 

“At the 2010 World Cup he was an opposition analyst. He was a scouting coordinator for the Portuguese national side under Carlos Queiroz, who is someone he has had a good working relationship with down the years. There would be times where, [they would say] ‘We need a body for a training drill – Julian, you’re gunna have to go right back against Cristiano!’ Some days it would be Nani, some days it would be Richardo Quaresma, some days it would be Cristiano Ronaldo. He’s just there doing shadowplay. To go from there, to where he’s at now, is incredible.” 

Redmen Reacts

Julian Ward certainly has a good pedigree in the game, having worked with ProZone, the FA, the Portuguese Football Federation and Manchester City. Ward and Edwards have worked in tandem for several years so was the obvious candidate to take over.

Edwards stressed the importance of the backroom team as a whole in his open letter to the fans, so Ward already knows the strengths of the team he will be leading from 2022.

Hopefully for Liverpool, the transition will be smooth and Ward can unearth some world class talent in the way that his predecessor did.