Liverpool have confirmed the appointment of Jorg Schmadtke as sporting director at Anfield ahead of the transfer window opening to help the club move quickly in the summer market.
Telegraph Sports revealed exclusively earlier this month that Schmadtke, 59, was taking up the role on Merseyside that he held at Wolfsburg in Germany until earlier this year. He has agreed to an initial short-term deal with the potential for the terms to be made long-term.
Schmadtke has more than two decades of experience with clubs such as Hannover and FC Cologne and is known for an outspoken style and shrewd recruitment during his work in the Bundesliga. The veteran German football executive replaces Julian Ward.
“Jorg will work with our football operations department as it continues to provide support for Jürgen Klopp, in keeping with our ongoing endeavor to keep growing and developing the club in all areas,” said Mike Gordon, president of club owners Fenway Sports Group.
Ward, who has attracted interest from Ajax since it was known he would leave Liverpool, spent 11 years at the club and recently took over from Michael Edwards, who enjoyed success in the transfer market during Klopp’s era at Anfield.
Schmadtke’s role is still subject to his work permit being finalized but the process is seen as a formality and he is expected to start work on June 1. Liverpool wanted him in place for a smooth transition from Ward in what is expected to be a busy summer of transfer activity.
The club has an interest in Brighton’s Alexis McAllister and Chelsea’s Mason Mount in the midfield area. It is understood that work has already started on summer recruitment and that it will be overseen by Schmadtke once he starts work in a month.
A former goalkeeper in the 1980s and 1990s, Schmadtke once joked that he applied for that first role at Aachen out of “a mixture of curiosity and desperation” before establishing himself in Germany during a time when Klopp was starting in management himself.
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