Stuttgart released a statement yesterday as Sven Mislintat leaves the club. Reports of Liverpool’s interest shine a new light on it.
Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg claims Liverpool are considering Sven Mislintat as their new sporting director. They need a replacement for Julian Ward, who shocked everyone with his resignation last week.
Ward, who had been groomed as Michael Edwards’ successor, only took the role in the summer. He’ll now leave at the end of the season, putting Liverpool in a difficult spot.
Mislintat worked with Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, however. That link makes him a very interesting option as Wards’ replacement and the stars do appear to be aligned for it to happen.
The German left Stuttgart yesterday after rejecting a new contract offer. Mislintat’s deal was set to expire at the end of the season – when he would have been free to take over at Liverpool. Stuttgart’s statement claims they made him a good offer but he wanted more.
That, of course, would be easily explained by Liverpool potentially sniffing around.
Stuttgart statement on Sven Mislintat
Mislintat is now without work. We don’t believe that means Liverpool will offer him anything just yet, however. Ward is still in the role and we imagine he’ll continue working towards various targets until he leaves.
Although, there is some logic to simply bringing in a replacement now. The summer, rather than January, is going to be the big transfer window. Any replacement could have six months of work ahead of the window – and Mislintat is free to do just that.
Liverpool could place Ward on gardening leave, then. Mislintat could arrive six months earlier than initially thought and get everything in place for the summer. That makes sense to us.
Of course, it relies on Mislintat actually being the pick. We’re not certain he is, given there’s only one report suggesting as much. Still, he’s the only name in the running – publicly, at least.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
