Liverpool’s new sporting director Richard Hughes has spoken at length about how to implement a successful recruitment operation at clubs.
After repeatedly working both with and against Liverpool in the transfer market in the past, Richard Hughes is the club’s new sporting director.
The former Scotland international’s appointment was announced on Wednesday, with it confirmed he will officially start in the role from June 1 after his tenure as AFC Bournemouth first-team technical director comes to an end.
Hanging up his boots in 2014, Hughes joined the Cherries’ recruitment team the same summer before becoming first-team technical director in 2016. During his tenure, Bournemouth punched above their weight in the Premier League before winning promotion back to the top-flight after an unexpected relegation.
Consequently, he has regularly dealt with Liverpool over the years in the transfer market.
Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith both moved to the Vitality Stadium from the Reds for a combined £21m fee in July 2016, while Dominic Solanke would also leave Liverpool for Bournemouth in a deal worth up to £24m in January 2019. The same month saw Nathaniel Clyne join the Cherries on loan until the end of the season.
The following August, Bournemouth would sign Harry Wilson on a season-long loan move from the Reds, while Nat Phillips would complete his own temporary switch to the South Coast club in January 2022.
Meanwhile, Hughes has also battled the Reds in the transfer market on more than one occasion.
The Cherries actually beat Liverpool to the signing of Lloyd Kelly from Bristol City in 2019, and rivalled the Reds for Andy Robertson from Hull City in 2017. They were also the ‘runners-up’ in the signings of Joe Gomez from Charlton Athletic and Harvey Elliott from Fulham.
Well-respected at Anfield as a result, his identification process in recruitment is seen as highly-effective by those within the field, with Bournemouth’s ability to identify and attract young talents particularly impressive. Boasting a professional and personal relationship with Michael Edwards dating back more than 20 years to their time at Portsmouth together, FSG’s new CEO of Football has had a longstanding desire to work with Hughes as a result.
Admittedly, it is no surprise that Hughes has not always been successful in the transfer market while working at Bournemouth. A smaller club with a smaller budget than Liverpool, it’s one thing identifying a would-be successful signing, it’s another being able to convince them to snub other interested sides to move to the less fanciful Cherries instead.
In April 2021, speaking to the Official AFC Bournemouth Podcast, Hughes looked to explain how Bournemouth’s team operate as he revealed how big a role Cherries boss Eddie Howe had in deciding transfer targets, and what he considered were the most impact factors to ensure a side’s recruitment is as successful as possible.
“You have a microcosm about how recruitment can go wrong,” he said. “The good fortune we’ve had at this club is consistency. If one of those components change, let alone a couple of them, like it happens at clubs all the time up and down the country, clearly there can be a disjointed nature to the recruitment.
“There’s no guarantees to get signings right but clearly you can limit the chance of mistakes with good communication. We’ve always had that in this era of the club.
“From the owner, the communication between the owner and the chief executive is excellent. I’d imagine on a daily basis, especially during a transfer window. You come into it with a plan. In windows gone by, summer windows especially, we’ve always looked to be progressive. To improve the squad that we had.
“Every window there was an understanding that would come from the manager primarily, his belief, so Eddie Howe would have had first and last word on a signing. But clearly in between that first and last word, there’s a whole process of important conversations going on with people – the owner, chief executive etc.
“There was always a great understanding and belief in where the message was coming from, the fact that the message in the first place was an accurate one, and therefore the owner always wanted to and always has backed that and allowed the chief executive to negotiate said deal, and hopefully come out of the transfer window with a more competitive squad than we went into it with.
“You have to be careful, you have to be prudent. It’s evolving conversations. Fundamentally the key to having a good recruitment, or as good as recruitment as possible, is good communication from the leader down.”
He continued: “Understanding them (a manager) from a human perspective as well as a footballing perspective I think is crucial to the job that I do. Really, I feel sorry for people in my role that will do this and a very good job as well for people that they don’t necessarily know as well as I do (Eddie Howe and Jason Tindall).
“Clearly, that proves it’s not essential but it gave me a head start, definitely in working under and alongside a manager as successful as Eddie, it also helps because he can make bad decisions look different and decent decisions look great.
“That I think is the key. How you recruit a player, it clearly varies between club and club, and everyone will have their own policy. It’s my belief that the best chance you have of having a successful signing is that the manager is a huge part in that recruitment process, which we’ve always had.
“But it’s also true that that manager can’t be in multiple places at one time so that’s why it’s someone else’s job to make sure that that’s done properly. That, for me, is what the job is and the better the understanding between the person in my shoes and the person picking the team and coaching the players, then, one would assume, the better the chance for success.
“It buys no guarantee as the magic question you want answered is how is that player going to do at this club with these team-mates.
