‘Hard but fair’: Liverpool man reportedly given perfect review after his first true test – RTK View

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Bayern Munich gave a good review of new Liverpool sporting director, Julian Ward in regards to his Sadio Mané deal. He replaced Michael Edwards this summer.

Liverpool officially sold Sadio Mané this week after they struck a deal with Bayern Munich. Per the Guardian, the Bavarians pay around £28m guaranteed and it could rise to £35m.

This was a massive deal for Liverpool but particularly for Julian Ward. Ward is now the club’s sporting director, taking over from Michael Edwards who stepped down this summer.

Edwards built a reputation as one of the absolute best in the business – as shown by the parade of clubs wishing to sign him. The man struck some incredible deals in his time with Liverpool, including the £142m sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.

Big shoes for Ward to fill, then, and an awkward way to start. How, after all, do you properly sell Mané? He’s been in remarkable form in 2022 but enters the final year of his contract. He’s also just turned 30 and wants a significant pay rise.

On top of that, Bayern always believed they negotiated the deal from a position of strength. So with all of that in mind, how did Ward actually do?

Julian Ward and his Sadio Mané deal

The Athletic claim that Bayern came away believing Ward was ‘hard but fair’ in talks over Mané. That sounds like a fair assessment.

Liverpool get a guaranteed £28m for a 30-year-old who wanted to leave and had one year on his contract. The Reds also pretty much had to sell after signing Darwin Nunez. The expiring contracts of Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah next year also made it important to sell someone. Liverpool can’t really entertain the idea of losing all three for nothing.

And Mané was always the easiest one to sell.

So we think Ward did an okay job here. It’s also encouraging that Bayern think ‘hard but fair’. That’s the reputation you want the sporting director to have.

Teams won’t believe that they can push Ward over, while at the same time knowing he won’t try and do the same to them. The latter is important if only to make sure teams have their door open to you.

This was the biggest test of Ward’s early time in the role and we think it’s gone well. There’s a long way to go before he holds Edwards’ reputation but honestly, ‘hard but fair’ is the perfect start.