Richard Hughes makes feelings on Liverpool chief Michael Edwards emphatically clear

Sitting in front of the media for the first time on Friday was not just new Liverpool head coach Arne Slot , but also the Reds' new sporting director, Richard Hughes , who arrived from Bournemouth at the end of the season.

That is a new dynamic at Anfield , with Michael Edwards only having become the first sporting director in Liverpool's history in November 2016. Julian Ward took the job from him and Jorg Schmadtke was the third person to hold the title, but Hughes is the fourth — and the first to address the media quite to publicly.

"I am very much looking forward to working with Michael," Hughes said during Friday's press conference . "In my opinion, he is the best British sporting director to date.

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"The decision to come to Liverpool was one that I was humbled by but it was the people that I would be working with as well that made it extra special," Hughes explained. "Conversations, again, daily at the minute, and they have been from quite the way out as there was a fair bit to do to hit the ground running — Arne’s appointment being the most important thing to get right.

"Since then, and like with Arne, it has been more logistics and forward planning. But I'm very much looking forward to working with Michael and the ownership group as a whole."

Liverpool.com says: FSG would certainly appear to agree with Hughes' assessment: that is why it was so keen to bring Edwards back into the fold . He took some convincing but eventually returned in a role with an increased scope.

It will be really interesting to see what happens behind the scenes in the coming years. Hughes being introduced to the media alongside Arne Slot yesterday suggested that a message was being sent in terms of them coming as a pair.

Then there are Edwards and Julian Ward above them, who will eventually help Liverpool move into a multi-club model. There is a different structure compared to what came before and it will be fascinating to see how that changes how things work.