Liverpool have confirmed that 44-year-old Bournemouth sporting director Richard Hughes will take take up the same role at Anfield in the summer.
Hughes will join the club officially on June 1 and will lead the club's transfer operations, according to the Athletic's James Pearce. He will help whoever FSG appoints to replace Jurgen Klopp in the summer as the club prepares for a new chapter.
Read more: Who is Richard Hughes?
The former Scottish footballer reportedly "knows everyone in football" and has proven to have a keen eye for talent. He was interested in several current Liverpool players before the Reds ultimately coaxed them into moving to Anfield.
Hughes tried to sign Andy Robertson when he was at Hull City, Harvey Elliott at Fulham and also tried to sign Charlton Athletic’s Joe Gomez during his time on the south coast.
He also declared that, in an ideal world he would have liked to have been able to sign Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk and Roma’s Alisson.
To be fair, he was going up against Liverpool which is always daunting for a sporting director at a smaller club. Now, he has the power of LFC at his back to pursue signings he would not have been able to with the Cherries.
So, let's look at the top four signings that Hughes did make for Bournemouth
While on the south coast, Hughes did some notable transfer work with the four we're discussing still very players at varying degrees.
1. Dominic Solanke
2. Nathan Ake
3. Callum Wilson
4. Aaron Ramsdale
Now that he is confirmed to be the next Liverpool sporting director, Richard Hughes can begin to plant the sort of signings he has only dreamed about. He's spoken in the past how he wished he was able to sign van Dijk when he was at Celtic and Alisson at AS Roma.
Not only can Liverpool provide the sporting director with a larger budget to work with, he will also have greater resources in terms of scouting, data analysis as well as the new CEO of Football at Liverpool, Michael Edwards, to collaborate with.
This is all happening because Jurgen Klopp is leaving and while that caught all of us by surprise and is a heartbreak that's not over, it's encouraging to see how Fenway Sports Group is responding.
Losing Klopp is unlike any other manager leaving a top club. He's truly unique among his peers but with the new personnel changes at the club, with a new manager to follow, hopefully the path ahead is as exciting as the nine years under Klopp have been so far.