Liverpool Rumours Mobile

24 Sep 2026 07:05:17
Hi Ed's, any truth to Julian Ward. Becoming our new Sporting Director?
If so what are your thoughts on this. I recall you saying Hughes and Edwards would be a disaster hopefully if Ward is true you have a more positive outlook?

{Ed001's Note - I am not sure how anyone would know if Ward was the choice. There would be no secret meetings to be spotted or anything as Ward is already there in regular meetings! The choice of Ward would mean probably one of two things.

Either it is a stopgap as they are intending to sell up sooner rather than later and hand over to the new consortium to bring in their own long term solution to the club's set up.

Or they are reverting to a system where the manager/head coach has more control over transfers.

Either way it should be a major step forward over the Edwards/Hughes era, Ward will listen to Iraola and I doubt he will be looking to buy for his ego with big money star players over building a balanced squad. He certainly didn't do so when working with Klopp, he worked towards what Klopp wanted, with choices discussed and approved together. So any unbalance at that time was down to Klopp rather than him and he was not driven by his ego to want signings to make himself look good by bringing in superstars over what the manager felt he needed.}

24 Sep 2026 19:47:58
Julian Ward was reportedly one of the most vocal figures within the club regarding Arne Slot's reluctance to utilise academy talent.
It is understood that these concerns emerged relatively early in the season, with Ward questioning whether Liverpool's growing focus on recruiting elite young prospects was aligned with a first-team environment where pathways for youth promotion appeared limited.


The concerns were reportedly raised with Michael Edwards, with the argument that significant investment in young talent would become increasingly difficult to justify if opportunities at senior level remained scarce.
This was reported on the Anfield voice back in June.

24 Sep 2026 13:24:40
Rumours circulating this morning of a return for Morton. Apparently his form in France is drawing attention from lots of top clubs, and we're interested in bringing him back.

24 Sep 2026 16:12:14
Problem is we didn't put in a buyback in the sale.

24 Sep 2026 18:21:51
If we did have a buy back and we bought him back do we get the percentage of the buyback of us??

24 Sep 2026 20:22:01
IIRC, we did have a sell on of x% so any purchase will be that percentage cheaper for us.

24 Sep 2026 22:15:10
What utter nonsense. Morton is not the level of midfielder we are looking to recruit.

24 Sep 2026 23:26:29
%sell on fees is typically only if if the club sells to someone else not back to you. So will have no relevance to us

24 Sep 2026 13:12:56
An interesting article from Lewis Steele (unfortunately in the Daily Fail) about the recent youth recruitment drive, led by Matt Newbury, Director of Global Talent.

Look at the young talent that we have on the books:

GK: Lucca Brughmans, Zach Trinder
RB:?
CB: Mor Talla Ndiaye, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, Dara Jikiemi
LB:?
CM: Samuel Martinez, Trey Nyoni, Luca Eden
RW: Josh Abe
LW: Rio Ngumoha
ST: Djylian N'Guessan, Will Wright

I wonder whether it will be young fullbacks we'll be moving for next - ahem Daniel Banjaqui!

Obviously the likes of Jacquet, Leoni, Kerkez, McConnell, Koumas etc are all young too.

The big question is, what is their pathway to the first team?

24 Sep 2026 13:53:24
Same pathway as it's always been - if they're better than the first team squad of players they get a spot - Fowler, Owen, Stevie, Trent etc - the pathway follows the talent

Flip side is we are modelling Chelsea and we're breeding a sales factory, not a feed the first team factory 🤷‍♂️

Final thought - buying £100 million plus players each window is not sustainable so maybe developing the next one in house is also worth a try.

24 Sep 2026 14:15:56
I do love how even at youth level we can't recruit at DM or RB.

24 Sep 2026 14:47:51
Fowler_9 - there might be some good ones in the academy to be fair. I don't follow it enough to know.

I know that we tried our hardest to get Kennet Eichhorn in the summer who is a DM. He ended up staying in Germany and joining Leverkusen in the end. Perhaps we will keep an eye on him.

Our interest in Banjaqui is well documented. The issue now is that much like Yann Diomande, all the big clubs are after him.

24 Sep 2026 14:48:41
Iraola has a tendency to develop and blend young players into the first team.

24 Sep 2026 19:10:44
"Same pathway as it's always been - if they're better than the first team squad of players they get a spot - Fowler, Owen, Stevie, Trent etc - the pathway follows the talent"

Sadly this is FAR from the truth, many managers do not trust in the youth.

24 Sep 2026 20:22:58
Slot didn't, Iraola does.

24 Sep 2026 01:52:00
Following up on my post from a few weeks ago: the consortium plans to exercise its end-of-year option to acquire a majority stake in LFC, subject to FSG's right of first refusal.

The round will bring in additional investors. The consortium is currently marketing the deal to a select group of high-net-worth individuals, with a minimum commitment of $250M.

24 Sep 2026 03:58:03
I'll think about it.

24 Sep 2026 07:48:26
Are we going to end up with Saudi sports washing petro dollars combined with the exploitive Bezos?
How will that go down with the left leaning, working class supporters in the city?

24 Sep 2026 11:42:12
Fine so long as we win the PL and CL @Starseeker. Sad but true.

24 Sep 2026 13:01:35
On second thoughts I don't think Saudi will get involved because of multi club ownership rules. They have also pulled out of LIV golf and sold their shares in Al Hilal. They are probably preparing for the 2034 World Cup. A world cup that they has been awarded without a bidding process.

24 Sep 2026 15:28:54
The people that I know who've been approached so far are American billionaires.

24 Sep 2026 16:15:27
As long as the club is well ran and the fans are always part of decisions and the club keeps moving forwards both on and off the pitch I really don't care who holds the keys.

24 Sep 2026 22:18:37
The very "left leaning" supporters who embraced the PL sky money and likely subscribed to Sky Sports? It's all virtue signalling BS, and the type to shout out their concerns yet celebrate when we spend 120 million (plus extras) on a player, and call out for more to meet their desired. My personal principles are that the game finished on the inception of the PL, but sky example is one of many surrounding the game, and ultimately showing how hypocritical supporters are.

23 Sep 2026 17:17:50
I always thought the rumours about Mbappe coming to LFC was nonsense.
Just read this Sk
Mbappe said: "I had to take a decision. And yes, I was close to Liverpool. My mum was a big fan of Jurgen Klopp and the favourite destination for my mum was Liverpool. She wanted me to go there.

"She went there (for) the first step of the negotiations. She went to the city, the stadium, she met the people. She was like, 'It's a wonderful club, everybody's so kind, it's a family club, a big club'.

"She went to Anfield and fell in love with it. She watched a few games alone, to feel the atmosphere, because she wanted to imagine me in this stadium.

He added: "I remember we were on the plane and we were turning around and around in the air while he (Klopp) was explaining his project.

"I said, 'You don't need to convince me. You're Jurgen Klopp, it's Liverpool, a great club, so of course if I'm here, I have some interest. But I have other things, other projects, that are also good'.

"It's a funny story. But in the end, I took the decision to go to PSG because for me, born and raised in Paris, there was no better feeling than to show I could be a star in my hometown."

23 Sep 2026 18:54:44
Yeah in 2016 before he went to PSG. I have a sneaking suspicion that he may wear red for a season or two before he retires.

23 Sep 2026 19:36:43
His mother is wise beyond her years.

23 Sep 2026 19:58:39
Sentiments aside. lets hope not! I can't see how it could work in any way shape or form! ✌✌.

23 Sep 2026 21:44:27
Clearly wasn't nonsense though, he went with his heart which was fair enough the fact we were in the game was testament to JK and FSG pulling out the stops.

Whether we see it in hindsight as a dodged bullet is open to opinion, but we were in the discussion so proving, as has been shown since, that we are eating from the top table and not looking for scraps.

24 Sep 2026 01:06:01
No bullet dodged, he is the best current striker in football and a phenomenal player
Klopp would have been the perfect manager for him.

24 Sep 2026 02:11:47
Ive seen that in recent games Ethan Mbappe has played RW. I know he is mainly a midfielder but looks like he's versatile. I think he would be a good versatile signing in addition to Camara.

24 Sep 2026 06:30:18
His mom is right. its a family club - and going by his antics, he values everything above what a family club offers.

Great player, I just wouldn't take him because of his attitude.

24 Sep 2026 08:17:39
He was doing alright until his last sentence. Presumably Madrid is a suburb of Paris.
I liked the bit about his mum though. Perhaps she should apply for our DoF role?

24 Sep 2026 11:18:01
100% spot on JLC!

24 Sep 2026 13:03:09
I'd have Mbappe over Vini 100%, although that is a very low bar to clear.

I think he gets a lot of stick over how he carried on with PSG, but imo PSG put themselves in a terrible position with club-to-player negotiations when they decided to do anything to delay his inevitable transfer to Madrid out of principle.

I am possibly slightly bias in his favour, I think he's boss. I loved watching Henry as a kid, Mbappe is the closest thing I've seen to him since. I was gutted I never saw him in a Liverpool shirt and I doubt I'll ever see Mbappe play for us, but I can hope.

24 Sep 2026 15:03:26
Chose Paris over Liverpool because of the big fat pay check they offered.

23 Sep 2026 13:56:19
Hi Eds

I've just finished a kick about in the garden with my 4 year old - I recorded it all and seen that I won 127 duels, 86 dribbles and scored 48 goals before he started crying and went back in the house.

Given our midfield is so atrocious and people seem to be obsessed with stats I wanted to ask if the club b are looking at me and I need to give my puma kings a bit of a polish.

I think my stats are mustard and I once scored a penalty for St Francis under 13's at Hartlepool's Victoria ground when I was 11 so no problems playing in front of big crowds.

{Ed025's Note - bring your boots for the next game CH...you are in instead of Wirtz mate.. :)

23 Sep 2026 16:52:55
Will be great signing Ed, he's also homegrown.

23 Sep 2026 17:39:32
Nowhere near enough dribbles at 4! Up the napping.

23 Sep 2026 18:45:58
How far did he run in km?

23 Sep 2026 19:38:23
Does your son have any Spanish blood? Because that's poor for four thanks mick miller 😁.

23 Sep 2026 20:43:01
My Dad told me that Mick Miller joke tonight, Avitohyes.
He was a decent footballer in his time, I believe; Mick not my Dad. A goalkeeper. I think he played for Port Vale.

23 Sep 2026 20:48:27
Cheers Ed - they say imitation is the highest form of flattery so here goes

Hmmmmmm 😉.

{Ed025's Note - love it CH..

24 Sep 2026 04:17:53
Don't forget to put dubbing on your boots too.

{Ed025's Note - showing your age there KD..

24 Sep 2026 06:29:48
Everton will snap you up crazy horse ask edd 25 he is an agent for the blues.

{Ed025's Note - our midfield is very strong at the minute IWBR so he may struggle to get minutes mate, but there is another local side who are desperate for someone who can track back and tackle and also has legs, i will pass his name on to Chris Dowling.. :)

24 Sep 2026 09:00:17
Happy with how the season going Ed025?

I know he's not your favourite, but maybe Moyes is the right person given the mess with the people who run the club? A stable ship isn't a bad thing and Moyes seems to be able to bring this in management.

{Ed025's Note - content rather than happy Taurus, after the debacle with our last transfer window i think you are right that Moyes will be the right man at the helm for now mate..

24 Sep 2026 12:11:02
Yeah it could be worse Ed025. I didn't realise it was only 3 years ago that everyone thought Everton were going to go down after Moshiri made a mess of it all, before Dyche came in for the rescue.

{Ed025's Note - yeah that was a nightmare period Taurus, Sean was very boring but done a job i suppose mate..

24 Sep 2026 18:58:27
Puma kings, yes, back in the day if you had them you were THE MAN! Actually saw them a while back when taking my lad to get some new boots but as they were black he didn't want to know😂.

23 Sep 2026 00:31:48
@Kloppers According to football critic Italy Manu Kone played 43 times DM 6 CM 1 AM. so as I said imo he would be a upgrade to Gravy based on current form. Interesting Roma went on to loose their 2 goal advantage that he had scored in the first half after he was subbed off after 60 mins.
If you check his injury records most are impact muscle related as a direct result of tackles.

Something our midfield is light on. Kone has always been a tackle happy DM at U21 for France in Germany and in Italy. Camara has no proven track record yet. Kone also has a above 90% pass accuracy and averages a higher ground coverage per game than Macca.
I think he would balance out Wirtz and Slobi with the added advantage he has played with Hugo ( soon Jaquet) Barcola and Olise.

23 Sep 2026 08:53:35
I think we should move for both players and pair them together.
Then let Szoboszlai and Wirtz fight it out for the 10 role and let them both cover the wide forward roles.
And Szoboszlai could also give cover to the 8 and right back.
We are so short in depth anyway.

23 Sep 2026 08:54:36
He's not a bad player, a good one tbh but his injury record is rough and everyone keeps saying we need a destroyer at 6 he isn't that he will just be another Grav who can fill in at 6 fine but he'll just do the same job not bring another skillset.

23 Sep 2026 09:25:54
Kloppers, not sure the injury record is a thing anymore because many on here were (and are still) clamouring for us to sing a currently injured player in Minteh from Brighton.

23 Sep 2026 09:45:21
We don't need a destroyer and AI doesn't want one. He wants a player who can tackle, track, progress the ball through the lines, can spot the movement of Wirtz and Isak and has energy. There names are Nyoni and Scott.

23 Sep 2026 15:20:32
I think we look solid at the moment to be honest. I know he isn't adored by many on this site, myself included in the medium-to-long term, but if we get this Macca for the rest of the season and get a decent fee in the summer I'd be over the moon. He has done well and looks a lot fitter in my opinion.

22 Sep 2026 20:11:22
Julian Ward is set to become the new sporting director at Liverpool.

22 Sep 2026 21:11:08
What happened to the Brentford lad?

22 Sep 2026 22:32:37
The young lad from Brentford?

22 Sep 2026 22:46:09
Apparently it could be another as well as Ward.

22 Sep 2026 23:07:06
Hope we keep Pedro Marques.

22 Sep 2026 23:51:08
YLFB here we go again! 👌.

22 Sep 2026 22:16:48
Is he the one who crapped his kex after 6 months taking over from Edwards when klopp was here?

22 Sep 2026 21:19:09
If true I don't think Ed001 will be too ecstatic with the Ward appointment lad's.

23 Sep 2026 00:18:15
Ed1 is probably having a nightmare right now. This is just a lazy appointment. I bet he will quit the job just like he did the last time.

23 Sep 2026 08:22:36
Michael Edwards to Julian Ward to Jorg Schmadtke to Richard Hughes via Michael Edwards and back to Julian Ward. Should have been an outside appointment to get a fresh input, but we've gone the lazy, cheap and nasty, jobs for the boys route.

He wasn't particularly good at his job the last time and couldn't handle it. I'd imagine as soon as any take over of ownership is done he'd get binned off for someone competent.

23 Sep 2026 08:38:27
Ward was in post when Gakpo, Mac Allister, Diaz & Nunez arrived.
But then on the other end of the spectrum was Arthur Melo.
Oh well, we all have good days and bad..

23 Sep 2026 09:26:44
Still hiring their mates, I see. Clearly, no lessons have been learned by FSG.

Sad.

23 Sep 2026 09:37:38
He might or might not do a fantastic job but regardless I think VV has it right. Once the new consortium is in they'll appoint their own man. Whether they will be better or worse than Ward is anyone's guess.

23 Sep 2026 09:50:53
Revisionism is a wonderful thing.

23 Sep 2026 09:52:55
The new investors are already in charge of the day to day decisions given they will become sole owners in the next 18 months. Watch this space. They will not leave Ward in charge.

23 Sep 2026 10:02:58
This feels like a temp appointment, someone who can cover between now and the time the takeover or ownership goes through.

No point hiring an outside hire if the new ownership decide to go another direction in 12 months time.

23 Sep 2026 12:12:06
I said I would have liked Julian Ward to step into the role when Hughes was first being linked to Saudi, 12 months ago.

If we can't get Luis Campos, I think Julian Ward and hopefully the highly-rated Pedro Marques continuing as his sidekick would be worth a try for now while the ownership transitions.

I wouldn't be too harsh on Ward's first stint. Klopp is always going to be too strong for any sporting director - look at how many names we interviewed and couldn't attract in his final years at the club.

Macca talked about Ward glowingly in his signing. Ward negotiated Mo Salah's last two deals. I hear Ward was instrumental in convincing Josh Abe to stay at the club. He's been the Head Scout for the Portugal FA, can speak Portuguese and has turned down sporting director jobs at Man United and Ajax. So he's definitely not a bum.

In theory, he has a pretty straightforward job to do now. The gaps in the squad are obvious and adequately filling them would massively move the floor and ceiling for this new team given the talent we already have. We just need some sensible recruitment from here.

23 Sep 2026 12:12:11
Do we know why he stepped down before?

Klopp is a legend and he put the club back where it belongs but he was so loyal and close with his players that it did make it difficult to refresh the squad. When Klopp left we had an aging squad that was full of quality but it needed a major overhaul to bring some younger faces and rebuild for the future.

With a coach now having less say over transfers maybe Ward will be more comfortable in the role?

23 Sep 2026 12:49:35
Shipley - I don't think there's anything official but the rumours were that he left for the same reason Edwards did ie Ljinders and Kornmayer's influence over Klopp was greater than that of the sporting director, resulting in a power imbalance.

You could make the argument that Ward should have been stronger, which is fair, but who stands a chance when it comes to Klopp and Ljinders? Very few.

24 Sep 2026 00:06:21
Who hired him, OliRed?

22 Sep 2026 18:19:15
Next year i can bet we will make a move for mbappe. 100%.
He will fall out with mourinho and madrid. It's written in the stars.
We will offload - vvd, gravy, isak, wirtz and gakpo and get it done.

mbappe and olise.

22 Sep 2026 18:55:40
More than that. Gackpo will be replaced by Desire Duopoly! YNWA

YNWA

UP THE ALLEZ.

22 Sep 2026 18:56:16
I'm going to call BS, but fair play on creativity.

22 Sep 2026 19:06:44
Don't not assume his sauces.

22 Sep 2026 19:13:22
Someone has definitely been on the sauce.

22 Sep 2026 20:00:20
Put the bet on mate 😂👍.

22 Sep 2026 20:10:11
I'm suffering withdrawls. Man City next up. Time for Isak to do the Brobby (never-mind the ego from Madrid). Plus one from Gakkers. 4-2 final score.

22 Sep 2026 20:22:21
I'm sorry but as a player he's fantastic but my god I can't keep listening to him campaign for the ballon d'Or. so self entitled it's unreal. Shame, I don't recall Messi or Ronaldo trying to rally the troops and having to tell people you're the best in the world.

If you have to tell people. there's a problem. Unbelievable player but there's a reason psg were a better side after he left!

22 Sep 2026 20:47:32
Last - Hopefully the right Mbappe i. e. not Kylian!

22 Sep 2026 23:25:47
It's not been pretty, but were tied for 4th with zero loss, and 2nd on GA in the league. Everyone knew this would be a project with the new manager.

22 Sep 2026 23:48:27
mbappe jr plays on right- might actually be a good option.

22 Sep 2026 21:48:31
Think lastfanofslot might be in Ibiza with Arne smashing some Gary Ablett's coming out with that one.

23 Sep 2026 09:31:29
"I'm sorry but as a player he's fantastic but my god I can't keep listening to him campaign for the Ballon d'Or. so self entitled it's unreal".

Clearly, you do not know how the Balon d'Or has been operating for years now.

Dembele won the award for doing the exact same thing Mbappe is doing now. And others are doing the same, as well directly or via intermediaries in the media.

And pls, let's not act like CR7 & Messi did not have people in the media making their cases for them during that fake/manufactured rivalry (imo). The award used to be very prestigious. Now, it is just a population contest in public.

Sad state of affairs for once, truly prestigious award, imo.

23 Sep 2026 09:55:48
He'll be 28 next year. We don't buy players who are 28. I have it on great authority, having read it on this very forum that buying anybody 28 or older is just a waster of money. "It's a well known fact by those who know it well", just ask Pooley and O'Malley 😉.