Liverpool's Search for New Sporting Director: Internal vs External Candidates

Liverpool are weighing up internal continuity against an outside shake-up as their search for a new sporting director gathers pace, with Brentford’s Lee Dykes among the external candidates to have held talks with the club.

The process is being driven from the very top. Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon is leading the hunt, a sign of how central the role remains to Liverpool’s long-term strategy after the departure of Richard Hughes, whose move to Al-Hilal was confirmed at the start of the month.

Inside Anfield, the favourite is already in the building. Current technical director Julian Ward is understood to be a strong contender to step into Hughes’ position, with the club minded towards an internal appointment. Ward’s familiarity with Liverpool’s structure, recruitment model and data-led approach makes him an obvious option at a time when stability behind the scenes carries real value.

Yet Liverpool are not treating this as a closed shop. Conversations have taken place with Dykes, Brentford’s technical director, whose reputation has grown sharply during the Bees’ rise and consolidation as a Premier League club. Since arriving in May 2019, he has been a key figure in the recruitment and squad-building that underpinned Brentford’s promotion in 2021 and their ability to hold their own in the top flight.

That work has not gone unnoticed. Within Brentford, Dykes is seen as part of a tight, highly aligned football operation, and prising him away would represent a significant coup.

He is not the only figure at the west London club to attract admiration. Brentford sporting director Phil Giles is also well regarded by Liverpool, but any attempt to lure him away is viewed as particularly difficult, given his seniority and deep roots in the project that has taken the club from the Championship to the Premier League.

FSG have spoken to other external candidates beyond Dykes as they test the market and measure outside expertise against what they already have in-house. The question now is whether Liverpool choose to double down on their existing structure with Ward or pivot towards a new voice shaped by a different kind of project, like the one that has quietly flourished at Brentford.