Liverpool are currently in the market for a new sporting director following last week’s news that Julian Ward would be leaving the position at the end of the season and a candidate has already emerged to potentially take over the major role.
It was reported by The Athletic last week that Liverpool sporting director Julian Ward will step down at the end of the season having taken over the role from Michael Edwards at the start of the current campaign.
Ward informed the Merseyside club’s owners that he wants to take a break from football and will also be joined by director of research Ian Graham, who will also leave the Reds at the end of the season, reports The Athletic.
In the meantime, Liverpool will be seeking out replacements for the pair, and it will be particularly interesting to see who the club target to replace Ward as a candidate has already emerged for the role.
According to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, who has close links to Jurgen Klopp‘s agent, former Borussia Dortmund chief scout Sven Mislintat is a candidate for the sporting director role at Anfield and would be open to reuniting with Klopp.
Excl. News #Mislintat: He is a candidate in order to replace Ward as a Sporting Director at #LFC in summer 2023! No concrete negotiations yet but he‘s open for Liverpool. Relation to Klopp still brilliant. They have worked together in Dortmund (08-15). @Sky_Marc @SkySportDE ?? pic.twitter.com/ZZ1bXAY5tr
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) November 30, 2022
Earlier on Wednesday, it was announced by Stuttgart that Mislintat would be leaving his role as sporting director at the Bundesliga club after three-and-a-half years, having failed to agree a new contract.
This opens up the path for a reunion with Jurgen Klopp as the pair worked together at Borussia Dortmund between 2008 and 2015, with Plettenberg adding that their relationship is still “brilliant.”
Mislintat also held a role at Arsenal, where he was head of recruitment and was responsible for the signings of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Bernd Leno and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
The German left the Gunners in February 2019 but it is now possible that he could return to the Premier League in the near future, as he will be on the list of candidates to take over as Liverpool’s sporting director from next season onwards.