Mbappe Hincapie Wirtz Tapsoba Gray

This article was originally published on the Daily Briefing, a subscription service. If you would like to receive Neil Jones’ exclusive articles via email ahead of publication on caughtoffside.com, please sign-up for the service at thedailybriefing.io

Liverpool’s search for a new sporting director is arguably as intriguing as their pursuit of a new manager. If and when an appointment is made, they will be the fourth person to have held that role in the space of two years.

For a long time, we have talked about the ‘stability’ of the Reds’ club structure, and for many years that revolved around the key trio of Klopp, Michael Edwards and Mike Gordon – the manager, the sporting director and the most hands-on member of the ownership group.

By June, only Gordon will remain, and it is fascinating that once news of Klopp’s imminent departure emerged last month, Liverpool made contact with Edwards over a potential return to Anfield. He turned it down, and I am intrigued to see what the Reds’ next move is.

I would argue that, much like the manager situation, there is no ‘perfect’ fit for the role, with any appointment carrying a degree of risk and uncertainty. The likes of Tim Steidten (West Ham United), Markus Krosche (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ricky Massara (ex-AC Milan) and Florent Ghisolfi (OGC Nice) all have interesting profiles, but all would be working to a new brief were they to arrive at Anfield.

And don’t forget, many of Liverpool’s Premier League rivals are busy assembling new recruitment teams. Manchester United are on a hiring spree, Chelsea too. Newcastle United will need a new director of football and Manchester City need a new chief operating officer. The market for ‘football operations’ staff has rarely been so busy, and that could well make Liverpool’s task even harder.

I wonder whether they will eventually find themselves back at Edwards’ door, making him an offer he can’t refuse. Because if there is no such thing as a perfect fit, he might be the next best thing.

There will be a lot of top clubs looking at this Bayer Leverkusen squad and seeing opportunities to land players of big potential in the summer.

Liverpool are no different. They are known admirers of Piero Hincapie, and made tentative enquiries about the Ecuadorian last summer, and their scouts have, like just about every other club in Europe, been aware of Florian Wirtz for a number of years.

Those two, in particular, are interesting cases, given their age and…