If Julian Ward reaches a Jude Bellingham agreement this month ahead of either a January or a summer arrival in 2023, he will one day surpass Michael Edwards as the club’s best sporting director.
Edwards was responsible, with Jurgen Klopp, for the shrewd signings of most of the current starting eleven that graces the Anfield turf.
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Whilst other clubs chased bigger names costing more money, Edwards and Klopp plotted to sign the ‘right’ players which paid off given most of the signings made since 2016 have been successful.
With Ward fully settled into life at an elite club, his next target seems to be Jude Bellingham – with talks already begun over a possible move.
Securing him would see Ward well on his way to exceeding Edwards’ legacy.
Grateful for Julian Ward and the structure behind him.
This transfer window is crazy! #LFC
— The Anfield Talk (@TheAnfieldTalk) August 3, 2022
Latest reports on Bellingham
According to Football Insider, a deal could be agreed “within weeks” as negotiations behind the scenes are going well.
There’s even a chance he could join in January – whether he would leave the club in January is unknown but he could sign in January and then join in the summer.
The Reds are working hard behind the scenes and are becoming “increasingly confident” amid new talks this week.
With plenty of other interested parties involved, they will have to be active with Bellingham’s representatives.
Julian Ward’s masterpiece?
Ward has delivered in his role as Sporting Director so far, but he’s operating in very different circumstances than former director Michael Edwards experienced.
For example, FSG seems laxer around spending big money without making a huge sale first.
We’ve seen Liverpool almost ‘break the mould’ this summer spending £85M on Darwin Nunez – which stands as their club record signing.
He could be more successful in the long run as he’s been given the green light to spend money on big targets rather than players who are developing. Bellingham falls into the bracket of a ‘big name target’ and someone who Liverpool are desperately trying to sign – and it could well happen.
Pep Ljinders in his new book has revealed Julian Ward was showing off the #LFC trophy cabinet to Luis Diaz on the phone where he, Jurgen and Pep convinced Luis to ignore Spurs and join Liverpool.
— Watch LFC (@Watch_LFC) July 26, 2022