Michael Edwards emerges from shadows as Liverpool make major statement of intent

It's mid-afternoon on the Cour de Vincennes in Paris ahead of Liverpool's Champions League final against Real Madrid back in 2022. The Lightning Seeds are rattling through their greatest hits for a bouncing throng of Reds supporters, and the mood is one of joyous anticipation.

And there, right in front of the stage bopping away with the best of them, is Michael Edwards, playing air guitar and recording much of the event on his mobile phone for posterity.

That the almost mythical figure had unusually opted to step out of the shadows was an indication of his race being run at Anfield after more than a decade ahead of vacating his post as sporting director shortly afterwards. This was a man ready for new challenges and rightly content with his impressive body of work.

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Less than two years later, though, Edwards has been lured back to Liverpool in the newly-created role of Fenway Sports Group CEO of Football, a position that nods to planned future multi-club ownership for FSG but, for now, will concentrate solely on the restructure at Anfield in the imminent post-Jurgen Klopp era.

Edwards was never going to return as sporting director. Such a job would have been too restrictive and, after such a length time without a club, there was little appetite to retread such old ground.

But a much more senior role within FSG rather than the club itself offers him greater scope of influence, essentially replacing Mike Gordon in the day-to-day running of the club. Edwards once dubbed Gordon "the man who never sleeps" - an indication of the workload he is now assuming.

Liverpool succeeded where