Richard Hughes ‘agrees’ to leave Liverpool after Arne Slot bust-up sparked ‘civil war’
Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes has ‘agreed’ to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal after a tough season at Anfield, according to reports.
The former Bournemouth technical director will enter the final year of his contract at Anfield in the summer and there are now fresh links to Saudi Arabia.
Liverpool are having a poor season in the Premier League with Arne Slot’s side now 21 points adrift of leaders Arsenal after winning the Premier League last season, when they finished ten points ahead of the Gunners.
The Reds are still in the Champions League, although they are 1-0 down after their last-16 first leg against Galatasaray, and the FA Cup but there are rumours Slot could now be replaced by Xabi Alonso in the summer.
It is likely that Hughes and Slot’s performance will be reviewed in the summer after a huge outlay in the summer transfer window has not translated into good results and performances on the pitch.
In January, there were reports that Slot ‘ignited a civil war in the summer’ at Anfield as his relationship with Hughes came into the spotlight.
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Hughes and his recruitment team ‘were keen for Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni to be given bigger roles at first-team level following impressive performances in pre-season’.
But Slot wanted ‘to loan Ngumoha after Luis Diaz was sold and pushed the Reds to pursue a move for Bradley Barcola or Malick Fofana’ and sparked a ‘civil war’ at Liverpool.
The report added at the time: ‘During the heated clash, Anfield Watch understands Hughes refused to give in to Slot’s demands and informed the club’s head-coach that he would have to play Ngumoha and give him regular opportunities in the first-team.
‘This has been a source of contention between the hierarchy and Slot ever since. The Dutchman has neglected to use Ngumoha on a regular basis despite insistence from Hughes and others.’’
And now Saudi journalist Ahmed Al-Ajlan has revealed that Al Hilal have reached an agreement with Liverpool sporting director Hughes to move to the Middle East.
Al-Ajlan wrote on X: ‘#Alhilal reaches an agreement with the Scottish “Richard Hughes” to take on the role of sporting director for Al-Hilal Club, and the terms have been agreed upon between both parties, with only the contract signing remaining. In the event of signing, Richard Hughes’ assistant team will begin working immediately, with him starting his duties next summer.’
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Simon Jordan offered a balanced assessment of Slot’s situation at Liverpool with Mohamed Salah “now a shadow of himself” in this Reds team.
Jordan said on talkSPORT: “The Salah situation was never circled and squared in terms of what happened in the dressing room to suggest that a player felt he could speak the way he did.
“Seems to have just been brought back into a fold and is now a shadow of himself.
“There is no dispensation now for Slot about what was last year’s performances. The team are struggling on the field and are clearly not anywhere near where they were before.
“You’ve also got to factor in the nuance. They bought Isak, that’s turned out to be a disaster becuase it was protracted and now he’s injured; you had the tragedy of Jota; Luis Diaz was a key component of the Liverpool side and the way they played, wanted to go because he couldn’t get the deal he wanted; and Darwin Nunez was long overdue going.
“So, they’ve had to rebuild. And, of course, the rebuild hasn’t worked the way people anticipated. But he’s getting no latitude for it, and thay may be because Liverpool fans have been indulged with a fabulous brand of football from Klopp, and a more sophisticated extension of it by Slot.”
