‘I just saw transfer Richard Hughes should consider for Liverpool – and it isn’t Milos Kerkez’

Liverpool did well to beat a Bournemouth team that has been flying so far this season – Milos Kerkez has been linked with a transfer but he shouldn’t be the only one

While Bournemouth performing so well this season under Andoni Iraola has come as a surprise to many, it won’t have done behind the scenes at Liverpool. In fact, some of the credit lies in the corridors of Kirkby.

New Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes, though his record in the transfer market is yet to be fully tested, came through his biggest challenge during his first summer: replacing Jurgen Klopp. Arne Slot, it is safe to say, was the right man for the job.

And before that, it was Hughes who opted to remove Gary O’Neil from his position and bring in Iraola, a highly rated coach from Spain. Alongside a plethora of excellent players that Hughes signed for Bournemouth, Iraola has been a revelation.

Hughes was in attendance as his new side took on and beat his old one this weekend. And pretty much every player on the field, he knows well — having signed most of them for Bournemouth.

Mohamed Salah, a player Hughes simply must find a way to tie down to a contract extension before the end of the season, scored the two goals that saw Liverpool pick up the points, but it was a battle of a game. The Cherries, as expected, were excellent.

“They’ve picked up points against so many good teams, not by luck, but because they’re intense,” Slot said during his post-match press conference. “They have quality and that’s why we knew it was always going to be very hard.