Liverpool take a page out of Boehly's book with multi-club model plans

Tom Weber

Updated: 12 Mar 2024 14:52 GMT
4 min read

Liverpool have big plans for the post-Jurgen Klopp era, and one of them includes acquiring another club.

Article continues under the video

Michael Edwards' return to Anfield will ring in a new era at Liverpool. The club's erstwhile sporting director has been hired by the Reds' owners, Fenway Sports Group, to become the new CEO of football, who will be tasked with restructuring operations following the departure of Jurgen Klopp.

Edwards will be supported by Richard Hughes. The Bournemouth transfer guru will become Liverpool's new sporting director, and he could give them a key advantage in the chase for in-demand coach Xabi Alonso. Intriguingly, Edwards has revealed that the changes won't stop there.

Speaking after he agreed to return to the club, Edwards revealed that FSG's plans to establish a multi-club model helped to convince him after he had rebuffed their initial approach. “It was vital for me that, if I did return, it had to be with renewed vigour and energy,” Edwards is quoted as saying by The Athletic.

“In practice, this means having fresh challenges and opportunities. As such, one of the biggest factors in my decision is the commitment to acquire and oversee an additional club, growing this area of their organisation. I believe that to remain competitive, investment and expansion of the current football portfolio is necessary.”

© IMAGO - Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali

Liverpool following in Chelsea's steps?

At this point, multi-club models are the rule rather than the exception in football. Red Bull and City Football Group were two of the pioneers of this system. The latter has created national champions in Australia, India, Japan and, of course, England, with Man City winning a history treble last season.

Red Bull, meanwhile, has established one of football's most extensive scouting networks and turned Red Bull Salzburg into a seemingly unbeatable domestic behemoth in Austria, while also controversially leading RB Leipzig to the upper echelons of German and European football.

More recently, Chelsea have decided to get in on the act. BlueCo acquired control of RC Strasbourg last year, though the first steps in football of Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and company have been anything but a success.

Fans of the Ligue 1 side are already sick of the Chelsea owners to the point of the club's president having to assure supporters that the Alsatians are not part of a massive pyramid scheme. Strasbourg are hovering precariously above the Ligue 1 relegation zone.

It is not yet clear in which club Liverpool's owners will invest, but it is self-evident that they will try to avoid what is currently happening at Chelsea and Strasbourg.