Damien Comolli makes Liverpool and FSG prediction…

Damien Comolli makes Liverpool and FSG prediction after Michael Edwards exit

Former Liverpool director of football Damien Comolli believes that the success that the Reds enjoyed in the transfer market under Michael Edwards can continue because of the structure the club have in place.

Frenchman Comolli, 49, was the first major backroom hire of the Fenway Sports Group regime at Anfield when he was appointed to the role of director of football in November 2010.

He had a role in signing players who would thrive at Liverpool such as Jordan Henderson and Luis Suarez, but had less than successful forays into the market for the likes of Andy Carroll and Charlie Adam. But it was to be Reds skipper and Champions League and Premier League title winner Henderson who would be the player that would end his time at Anfield, with Comolli having previously claimed that it was the signing of the midfielder from Sunderland and a lack of an instant return that would prompt FSG to part ways with Comolli by mutual consent in April of 2012.

During his time at Anfield, Comolli was keen to change to culture and the structure behind the scenes and one of his own hires to the recruitment team would be that of Michael Edwards, who joined as head of performance and analysis having worked in the same role under Comolli during the Frenchman's time at Tottenham Hotspur as sporting director.

Edwards would eventually take the reins as sporting director at Liverpool and his hit rate in the transfer market was lauded among European football as he aided first team manager Jurgen Klopp's efforts to return the Reds to the summit of the English and European game.

Edwards last month brought the curtain down on almost 11 years at Liverpool, his successor coming from within in the form of Julian Ward, who had been working closely with Edwards in the market and on contract negotiations for some time.

There have been the obvious questions about how to follow such an act as Edwards, but for Comolli, while admitting he doesn't know too much about the successor to his protege, it is the structure that remains in place through FSG's Mike Gordon, and Klopp, who signed a contract extension back in April to 2026, that will keep Liverpool's plans on course.

Speaking to the Training Ground Guru podcast, Comolli said: "It's fantastic what they have done and what they have achieved.

"They had great alignment. At one point they had perfect alignment between Michael Gordon, Michael Edwards and Jurgen Klopp, and that perfect alignment, the three of them, has created that success."

When quizzed on whether Liverpool fans should be worried about the future post Edwards, Comolli added: "To be honest, and I have been thinking about this a bit, I don't know.

"I don't know because I don't know the person taking over from Michael. They still have Mike Gordon, who is key in what they do with the day to day running of the football club, and they still have Jurgen Klopp, obviously. So, there is no reason the person that they picked to replace Michael can't step up into that environment.

"(Success) all comes from the board, if the board doesn't play with the culture of the club and what it is trying to achieve and the culture of what they are trying to implement. The sporting director is the safeguard of the culture and of alignment of the club day to day."

In the years after leaving Liverpool Comolli moved to Fenerbahce in a sporting director role before taking the reins as chairman of French side Toulouse in the summer of 2020 following the purchase of the club by RedBird Capital Partners, the New York-based investment fund that took an 11 per cent stake of FSG for $750m in March 2021 and that recently took a controlling stake in Italian champions AC Milan.

READ NEXT:

Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.

Already a member? Sign in here