Liverpool have held talks with Monaco Sporting Director Paul Mitchell over potentially taking on the role with Liverpool.
Mitchell has built a reputation as one of the shrewdest operators in European football, having cut his teeth as head of recruitment with Southampton and then Tottenham. He then moved to RB Leipzig, before making the move to Monaco in June 2020.
It has been reported that the Englishman will leave his role at the Principality club at the end of the upcoming window, as he looks for a new challenge at the pinnacle of the European game. Mitchell has been heavily linked with a move to a top-four club in the recent past with Chelsea and Manchester United both touted as potential destinations.
But the soon-to-be-vacant role at Anfield could be the one that lures him back to the Premier League. Julian Ward “surprised” Jurgen Klopp earlier this season when he announced his intention to leave in the summer.
Ward had only replaced Michael Edwards months previous, but in November revealed he would be stepping down on July 1. He is set to take on the top job at Ajax, with the Reds on the lookout for a new figurehead at the top of their recruitment structure.
Get French Football News report that talks between Mitchell and Liverpool are already underway, despite his commitment to remain with Monaco until the end of the summer transfer window.
Liverpool are primed for a pivotal summer of transfer activity, with Klopp going public about the need for new reinforcements. There is expected to be a number of high-profile arrivals and departures after a below-par season in all competitions.
"We know we have to change things and we will. We cannot do that now but it is already clear we have to do something in the summer,” Klopp explained last month. And so Mitchell’s comments on Manchester United’s rebuild will make particularly interesting reading for those of a Liverpool persuasion.
Like Liverpool in 2023, 12 months ago United stood on the brink of a major overhaul of their playing staff. Speaking ahead of Erik ten Hag’s first summer in charge, Mitchell explained the need for Old Trafford bosses to implement a clear blueprint of how they wanted to move forward.
“I think they do need to get to the point of really putting down what Manchester United needs to be in the modern game,” he told Sky Sports last July.
"We are a long time from the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Erik ten Hag is a top coach from Ajax but they need a top blueprint not only for now but for the next five years, and work towards that, and sometimes on that journey there are hard moments when you don't get the right results, even though you're doing the right things.”
He then credited Edwards’ work at Liverpool and the sustained success he helped build on Merseyside. "You have to know that, over that period, the consistency of the decision-making will yield a good end result.
“I think we've seen that both Manchester City and Liverpool, that when you adopt that long-term strategy you can get real consistency and sustainable success. I think that's the biggest thing for Manchester United; putting down their identity of what they want to be today, but most crucially what they want to be in five years' time.”
