Late in 2021, when Michael Edwards announced he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of his contract this summer, there was understandably a sense of trepidation amongst Reds supporters.
Having arrived at Liverpool in 2012 and later appointed as the Reds' first-ever sporting direction in 2016, Edwards and his leading recruitment team, including the likes of David Fallows and Barry Hunter, have rightly been credited for much of the club's success over the likes six years, or at least for building the firm foundations for trophies to flow through the door.
Edwards' hard-ball approach when bargaining with buying clubs, most notably in 2018 when he stung Barcelona of £142m for the sale of star man Philippe Coutinho, has earned Liverpool a reputation as the world's most clinical operators when it comes to the transfer agreements.
