Jorg Schmadtke confirms surprise length of Liverpool sporting director contract
Liverpool sporting director Jorg Schmadtke has revealed that he will initially only fill the job for the duration of the summer transfer window but could continue longer.
The Reds confirmed on Wednesday morning that Schmadtke will replace Julian Ward as sporting director at Anfield from the start of June – Ward himself had only been in the role for a year after an internal promotion to succeed Michael Edwards last summer.
Schmadtke, formerly a Bundesliga goalkeeper during his own playing career, has extensive experience as a sporting director in Germany stretching back over 20 years and most recently held the position at Wolfsburg until January 2023.
Liverpool is the 59-year-old’s first job abroad and it will only be temporary to start with.
"Our cooperation is initially planned for three months,” Schmadtke told Sport1 in Germany. "I'll start on 1 June. After three months we review the cooperation. If we like each other, we can work together beyond the transfer period. Let's see. Then we continue or not."
Liverpool withdrew from the race to sign Jude Bellingham back in April over the prohibitive costs involved and Schmadtke has joked that he hasn’t yet been set a budget for the summer. But he also indicated there will be a lot of focus on minor details that often determine a transfer’s success.
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“I don't have a budget yet [laughs…” he said. “Seriously, transfers are always complicated. When a player moves from A to B, it's mostly about small things that are difficult to influence and unrelated to making money. For example, how the player integrates with his family in the city, what his place in the team should be, how he can show his maximum performance. You have to take that into account. The fees involved in these transfers are almost irrelevant.”
Schmadtke will also have to quicky adapt to a new way of working, admitting that head coaches in German football typically have less ‘influence’ on transfer decisions that in England. In that respect, Jurgen Klopp, whose agent was the one who recommended Schmadtke to Liverpool, will continue to have significant involvement in picking the players he wants the club to sign.
“Jurgen Klopp sets the priorities,” Schmadtke explained.
“We set him up with a team of data analysts, scouts and so on, so he can then choose from a list of players who he wants to work with. Then I'll deal with the transfers with the responsible departments in the club. And in the end, the owners have to be satisfied with the investments.”
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