Liverpool Search for New Sporting Director

Liverpool are sounding out external contenders in their search for a new sporting director, with Brentford technical director Lee Dykes among those to have held talks with the club.

Yet the smart money still points inwards.

The Anfield hierarchy are understood to favour an internal solution, with current technical director Julian Ward emerging as a leading candidate to succeed Richard Hughes, whose move to Al-Hilal was confirmed at the start of the month. Ward, already embedded in Liverpool’s structures and processes, offers continuity at a time when stability behind the scenes carries real weight.

Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon is steering the process, a familiar figure at the heart of Liverpool’s major strategic calls. His role underlines how seriously the ownership are treating a position that will shape recruitment, squad evolution and the next phase of the club’s rebuild.

Liverpool have not limited themselves to in-house options. Alongside Dykes, Brentford sporting director Phil Giles is also admired within the corridors of power at Anfield. Giles has been central to Brentford’s data-led rise and their assured presence in the Premier League, but persuading him to leave west London is expected to be a tough task.

Dykes, who arrived at Brentford in May 2019, has been a key figure in the Bees’ progression from promotion in 2021 to established Premier League outfit. His work in squad construction, value-driven recruitment and strategic planning has not gone unnoticed, and FSG have held conversations with him as part of a broader assessment of the market.

Those talks are not exclusive. Liverpool’s owners have spoken to other external candidates as they test the landscape and benchmark their preferred internal options against some of the sharpest operators in the game.

The choice now is clear: double down on continuity with Ward, or twist towards a new voice like Dykes, shaped by Brentford’s modern, efficient model.