Liverpool can't hide from facts but FSG decision could completely change next manager race

If ever any proof was needed that the margins in elite-level football are finer than ever, then the reaction to Michael Edwards' return to Liverpool confirmed just that.

Typically, it would be expected that someone in the role of the interview-shunning, low-key-keeping Edwards - who this week sealed a return to Anfield as part of a new-look role with the club's owners, Fenway Sports Group - would be unrecognisable to Liverpool supporters given the star-studded list of names that have helped deliver the dreams of a generation by achieving impressive Premier League and Champions League triumphs in recent times.

In reality, and make no mistake about it, Edwards' decade-long service at the club has seen him become an esteemed name that is held in similar regard to modern-day greats Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah due to the influential role he played in dethroning Manchester City and ending Liverpool's 30-year wait for a Premier League title by virtue of unprecedented, data-led success in the transfer market.

Initially appointed as Liverpool's inaugural sporting director in November 2016 as part of a restructuring of football operations, Edwards, who held a range of roles at Anfield after first joining in 2011, was supported by the distinctive eye for detail of scouts Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter, as well as Director of Research Ian Graham and his team.

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It was an era that saw Liverpool transform from their reputation in the transfer market from the Merseyside Maniacs - after the bleak signings of Lazar Markovic, Mario Balotelli and Christian Benteke - to the envy