FSG new director Pedro Marques has already helped earn Liverpool €111 million

Fenway Sports Group are majorly ramping up their football department.

With Jurgen Klopp leaving the Reds, there might have been some some fearing it would be the beginning of a downfall. Kopites only have to look at what happened at Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson finally retired. Liverpool’s bitter rivals have jettisoned from the elite and not won a Premier League title since Ferguson’s exit.

Klopp will leave a void irreplaceable. Arne Slot won’t need reminding of the monumental challenge he has to succeed the German, who has won seven major trophies as Anfield chief - including the Champions League and Premier League.

But FSG are giving Slot the best chance possible to ensure Liverpool do not surrender their spot among the European elite. It was regarded as a coup when the Boston-based group prised Michael Edwards back to Merseyside. Edwards was a cult hero during his time as sporting director, helping sign the likes of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Sadio Mane before leaving in 2022.

However, Edwards has not returned to his former role. That has gone to Richard Hughes, who will arrive from Bournemouth in the summer. Instead, Edwards has been appointed FSG’s CEO of football. His remit is to ‘identify and recruit new leadership for Liverpool FC’s football operation’ as well as support ‘the growth of FSG in global football through additional investment and acquisition’.

Hughes will move to Liverpool with an impressive reputation. Last summer, the former Portsmouth midfielder helped appoint Bournemouth head coach Andoni Iraola, who has been nominated for Premier League Manager of the Season in his maiden campaign, along with signing players including Nathan Ake, Lloyd Kelly and Aaron Ramsdale.

Last week, it came as somewhat of a shock that Julian Ward had made a comeback to FSG towers. Ward succeeded Edwards as Liverpool sporting director in the 2 but lasted only a year in the role. Yet 12 months later, he’s been convinced to return and reunite with Edwards as FSG’s new technical director.

And also joining the backroom line-up is Pedro Marques. He will leave his role as Benfica technical director to serve as FSG’s director of football development. Marques previously worked for Manchester City and the club’s owners City Football Group.

Marques will be aiming for Liverpool to add more pieces of silverware to the Anfield trophy cabinet. And interestingly, he played a part in Liverpool’s Champions League triumph in 2019.

The Reds’ 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur ensured a sixth European Cup was yielded - and a first for Klopp. After being beaten by Real Madrid in the final the previous season, it was also redemption.

Liverpool went into the final after finishing runners-up to Manchester City in the Premier League. They had the best part of three weeks between their final league game and the Madrid showpiece. To prepare, Klopp jetted his squad off to Marbella for a week-long training camp. And according to The Athletic, Ward called in a favour from Marques. A friendly with Benfica’s B team was organised, with the Portuguese outfit setting up tactically similar to Tottenham.

Speaking to Portuguese outlet A Bola, Benfica B boss Renato Paiva said: “We recreated two of their offensive and two of their defensive moments, as well as the set-pieces we thought they’d use in the final.

“We replicated their centre-back and goalkeeper build-up, their 4-2-3-1 defensive shape with the striker cutting between opposition centre-backs and the No. 10 obstructing Liverpool’s No. 6. Vinicius mimicked [Christian] Eriksen, Bernardo acted more like [Dele] Alli and Jose Gomes was [Harry] Kane.

“We had to adapt to that 4-2-3-1 shape, both defensively and in possession, with two midfielders dropping closer to the centre-backs during build-up to try and attract Liverpool’s press. Tottenham would ideally want to attract Liverpool players closer to their box, so after a couple of passes between centre-backs and goalkeeper they can then attack the space in behind with their forwards and full-backs.

“We ended up just making slight tweaks to our regular system. A midfield triangle with Alli moving closer to the opposition centre-back (with Kane next to the other), Eriksen moving inwards to draw the full-back in while [Kieran] Trippier covers the wide space.

“Much like with Son [Heung-min] and [Danny] Rose on the left. “Klopp complimented us: ‘When you dropped your centre-backs to build-up we immediately set up the same press we used against Manchester City and you still managed to surpass it three or four times!’.”

Liverpool won the encounter 2-0 - and would go on to defeat Spurs by the same scoreline. It was not only confirmation that the Reds had again become a European powerhouse but the Champions League success boosted the Anfield coffers markedly. In total, Liverpool earned €111 million (per Swiss Ramble) from winning the competition.