Sporting director Michael Edwards could be set to stay at Liverpool in contract U-Turn - opinion

After Liverpool beat Watford 5-0 in the Premier League, Jurgen Klopp was asked to comment on Michael Edwards' contract situation and I believe his response is an encouraging one.

An exclusive report from David Ornstein for the Athletic was met with great concern by Liverpool fans after it was claimed that sporting director Michael Edwards told "the Liverpool hierarchy of his intention to move on, although the situation has yet to be finalised."

His contract expires in the summer of 2022 and "is expected to step down from his position" although it might not be as cut and dry as that just yet as comments from Jurgen Klopp have offered a glimmer of hope to fans desperate to see the transfer guru stay at the club.

After his side beat Watford 5-0 at Vicarage Road, Klopp was asked to comment on Edwards' contract situation and the German reacted with bemusement and seemed to indicate that it's not a major problem.

According to the Liverpool Echo, he responded: “What kind of story is that now!? We talk about the contract of the sporting director which expires next year? We’ve worked together for six years and I don’t think I’ve had a different sporting director.

“But it’s not my decision to do these kinds of things, so I don’t know. You need to ask other people about this, but over contracts, we don’t discuss, right. So I will not start now with the sporting director.

“That’s really interesting, I’ve never spoken before about the contract of a sporting director. If it was my point of view, if it expires next year, which I didn’t know exactly, I will think about that next year and not now.”

If Klopp isn't concerned about Edwards' renewal, it might suggest that whatever prompted the sporting director to tell the club of his desire to leave may have been resolved or is being worked on with the view to renew before July 2022.

Keeping Michael Edwards is key for Liverpool

It speaks volumes about his importance to the club that his contract situation is a talking point as some clubs' fans aren't all that familiar with their sporting director let alone desperate to see him stay at the club beyond his contract expiry.

Michael Edwards has worked wonders in the transfer market for Liverpool and it's likely that legends like Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane might never have been brought to the club without his data analysis approach to transfers and his ability to secure the best possible payment structures, fees and clauses to protect the Reds further down the road.

It's obvious that he has never taken a blinkered approach to signing players like Manchester United have in the past where they have done everything they can to get a signing over the line only to see it turn out poorly down the road.

Harry Maguire's disasterclass performance against Leicester City on Saturday is a prime example of this and the Red Devils spent £80million to sign the English defender - a world record fee and more than Liverpool spent to sign the best centre back on the planet, Virgil van Dijk.