Liverpool are close to naming a successor to the club’s current Direct of Research, Dr Ian Graham.
That’s according to The Times, who claim the Reds’ owners are ready to fund a summer rebuild – starting with hiring a new head of data.
Joining the club in 2012, Graham built Liverpool’s renowned data science department.
His work was largely responsible for bringing the likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Andy Robertson to Anfield. Furthermore, he also played a bit part in advocating for Jurgen Klopp to take up the vacant managerial role.
However, having handed in his resignation, the club director is set to leave in May.
As a result, it is now reported that the Merseyside outfit are close to announcing his successor.
It is thought that the person ready to replace Graham is already working in the game and is regarded as a leading operator in the football data field.
Graham’s replacement not too far away
This is a crucial move for Liverpool to make, so this is great news for fans to hear.
It has famously been reported that Klopp wanted to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Brandt before getting Salah, and Bayern Munich’s Mario Gotze before securing Sadio Mane.
These are just two examples where Liverpool’s data-driven recruitment team have prevailed over the manager himself.
This illustrates just how important they are behind-the-scenes.
However, it has been suggested that Pep Lijnders and Klopp were responsible for landing Cody Gakpo at Anfield last month.
Whilst this is a decent signing, the Reds should be making transfers based upon Graham’s recruitment team.
Therefore, hopefully when his replacement comes in, control is relinquished by the coaching staff and given back to the data scientists – and if they can find the next Salah, Klopp will be absolutely delighted.