Our View: Liverpool must hire man who signed Heung Min Son as Michael Edwards' sporting director replacement

Liverpool must hire Paul Mitchell as Michael Edwards' replacement as the club's head of recruitment after it emerged he will step down as the sporting director.

The Athletic broke the news that Liverpool's much-loved director will step down at the end of the season as his contract is set to expire in 2022.

The transfer guru has masterminded the sales of the likes of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for a Premier League record as well as securing huge fees for some players that have gone on to achieve very little.

He also landed the likes of Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah which helped Jurgen Klopp usher in the club's best period of success for a long time.

His departure is not to be taken lightly and FSG need to pay as much attention to his replacement as they will Jurgen Klopp's.

My personal pick would be Paul Mitchell, AS Monaco's sporting director and the man that signed Sadio Mane, Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk for Southampton as well as the hiring of Mauricio Pochettino who he then joined at Spurs.

While at Tottenham, he helped them sign the likes of Dele Alli, Heung Min Son, Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld. He then left to join RB Leipzig and is now at AS Monaco.

His ability to identify and sign young talent within the 21-24 age category that FSG likes to recruit within is something that I think would make him the ideal candidate to take over at Kirkby when Edwards leaves.

It's unlikely anyone can immediately offer what the Liverpool sporting director can but the important thing to note is that he's not the only person within the Liverpool recruitment team as there are several key cogs within what is a well-oiled machine typically.

Recently, Liverpool haven't been quite as efficient in the transfer market and the 2021 summer window is a good example as the Reds quite simply failed to take advantage of a number of good opportunities to reinforce the squad.

What frustrates me the most about Liverpool at the moment is that Jurgen Klopp is so close to something so special but is forced to operate with one hand tied behind his back because he can't compete with the squad depth available to Pep Guardiola, Thomas Tuchel and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.