Major Liverpool departure now "one step away", claims journalist | OneFootball

Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes is reportedly now just a step away from completing a move to take over at Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal.

This is not the first time there’s been speculation about Hughes possibly leaving Liverpool for the move to Saudi Arabia.

However, the most recent update coming from talkSPORT was that Hughes looked set to stay at LFC for the time being, despite Al Hilal’s interest.

Alternatively, journalist Nicolo Schira has today posted on X, formerly Twitter, to claim that Hughes is closing in on taking the director’s job at Al Hilal…

“Richard #Hughes is one step away to sign for #AlHilal as new sporting director. Agreement in principle for 3-years contract as revealed last March. He is set to leave #Liverpool to join the Saudi Club,” Schira posted.

It will be interesting to see how this develops, as this story clearly isn’t going away, but it’s also worth noting that Schira has a somewhat mixed reputation when it comes to getting big stories right.

[UPDATE: This has now also been reported by reputable Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport, as cited and translated by Sport Witness]

Could Liverpool be better off without Richard Hughes?

Richard Hughes and Arne Slot (Photo by Getty Images, Mark Pain/Alamy)

While it probably wouldn’t be ideal for Liverpool to lose an influential figure and to be forced to look for a replacement, there’s perhaps an argument that the Reds could do better.

Hughes will have overseen last summer’s hugely expensive and ultimately poor summer transfer window, with vast sums of money spent on signings who’ve performed poorly.

Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz have endured a difficult time since arriving at Anfield, while Hughes also let Luis Diaz go and was unable to get Trent Alexander-Arnold to sign a new contract.

On top of that, a new deal was awarded to Mohamed Salah, whose form has gone off a cliff this term, with Arne Slot’s side generally struggling and slipping to fourth in the Premier League table, never really challenging for the title at any point.