Jurgen Klopp has revealed his role in Liverpool's search for a new sporting director ahead of Julian Ward's departure from the club.
Ward replaced Michael Edwards in the role last summer, but confirmed that he would leave the post after just one season last year. While he remains in charge for the majority of the Reds' forthcoming transfer activity, he will leave the club this summer.
A number of sporting directors have been linked with the Anfield vacancy, with Monaco's Paul Mitchell, former Arsenal chief Sven Mislintat and most recently Tim Steidten of Bayer Leverkusen all names that have cropped up. However, club sources have distanced themselves from all three in recent weeks as the external search goes on.
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Klopp was asked about the progress of Liverpool's ongoing search for a new sporting director at his latest pre-match press conference, and while he gave little away, admitting he is not directly involved in the process, he revealed he believes it is 'going in the right direction'.
"I am not involved in the ‘talks’ but maybe in the talks around, yes," he told reporters. "I am not the person in the club who can give (a) real answer about where it stands. That’s in the hands of other people. What I heard is it’s all going in the right direction."
Meanwhile, Klopp also shared his thoughts on the current set-up where he works alongside a sporting director, as he shared his happiness with the structure and confirmed his faith in the club to appoint the right person as Ward's successor.
"How many clubs are there out there without a sporting director now?" he said. "You mean the old version where the manager is doing everything? But how many clubs? It would be really interesting.
"Is there any club without a sporting director or a guy in the role of the sporting director? City, Arsenal, no. United, they have a sporting director? Yeah, we go down and pretty much everybody has a sporting director.
"That’s because it makes sense, it makes sense. With the decisions, how the manager is involved with decision-making, that is not a thing. But the process. If a manager has to do that, I don’t know how the guys did that in the past! I have no clue.
"Around that, talking to all the agents and all these kind of things. And constantly talking about a pound here and a pound there. You need people for that, there is no chance.
"And that’s why, yes, I’m happy with the structure. The guy or lady we get will be absolutely right. But nothing to say in the moment."
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