After a poor weekend on the pitch for Liverpool, there was better news off it this week as Richard Hughes was confirmed as the Reds new sporting director.
Hughes is set to lead the continued search to find Jurgen Klopp’s successor at Anfield. With contract negotiations for three key players also pending, there’s plenty for the former Portsmouth midfielder to get his teeth into.
Beyond hopefully bringing in Xabi Alonso and tying up new deals for Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, Hughes will also have to get his transfer window hat on.
He’ll have some help there – Liverpool already have an excellent scouting and recruitment department. However, it makes sense that Hughes would want to bring in his own team, too. And according to journalist Fabrizio Romano on X, that’s exactly what he’s going to do.
Richard Hughes raids Bournemouth already
It will be interesting to see if Hughes has any targets from the Cherries playing staff. There are certainly one or two interesting players in Andoni Iraola’s squad.
However, on this initial occasion, Liverpool’s new sporting director has moved to bring one of his trusted backroom staff members to Anfield.
“Mark Burchill will follow Richard Hughes to Liverpool,” Romano reported at 2 o’clock in the morning last night. “It’s all decided for Bournemouth chief scout to join LFC.
“It will be signed soon but agreement’s already in place. Edwards, Hughes and Burchill will be part of the new structure.”
Who is Mark Burchill
Just like Hughes, Burchill is actually a former Portsmouth player and also won a handful of caps for the Scottish national team.
Having been at Pompey at the same time together – as well as, crucially, with Michael Edwards – Hughes and Burchill go back a long way.
The 43-year-old also has a short history as a head coach. Burchill took over at second-tier Scottish side Livingston in 2014, but didn’t last all that long.
As a player, the Scotsman was striker. Having come through as a youngster at Celtic, Burchill had a successful spell with the Glaswegian giants before going on to represent 14 more clubs in a long career.
He even spent time abroad, heading of to both Cyprus and Thailand to further his footballing experience.
In his post-playing career having failed to kick on in management, he joined former teammates Hughes and Eddie Howe at Bournemouth. From there, he’s been a key recruitment figure as the Cherries have gone from lower-league strugglers to Premier League stalwarts. Welcome to the club, Mark!