"The high-profile signing of forward Darwin Nunez in the summer of 2022 is widely cited as a key moment that demonstrated Jurgen Klopp's increasing transfer power, potentially contributing to the departure of highly-rated Sporting Director Michael Edwards later that year. While Michael Edwards officially stated his exit was planned after a decade and driven by a big believer in change, reports have suggested an underlying tension between Jurgen Klopp's personal preference and the club's established data-driven recruitment model."
"Replying to a question about whether there was a power struggle between Klopp and Edwards, Pearce said: It's certainly fair to say that with longevity and success, Klopp's influence increased across a host of different areas, including recruitment. A good example would be the signing of Darwin Nunez from Benfica in the summer of 2022, which was predominantly pushed by Klopp. Liverpool's former director of research Ian Graham has talked about how that wasn't a data-driven decision. Christopher Nkunku (then at RB Leipzig) and Alexander Isak (then at Real Sociedad) were two of the alternative names put forward. There was friction at times, but no big bust-ups that I'm aware of."
The summer 2022 signing of Darwin Nunez for £64m represented a transfer decision driven primarily by Jurgen Klopp despite analytics opposition. The analytics department had favoured data-backed targets such as Christopher Nkunku and Alexander Isak. Data rankings placed Nunez and Isak highly, but Klopp's final choice of Nunez created friction with the club's research and recruitment staff. There were no major public bust-ups, yet tensions and increased managerial influence coincided with the exits of long-serving sporting directors who cited exhaustion after a decade of service.
Read at www.caughtoffside.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]