Richard Hughes Resigns as Liverpool Sporting Director for Al Hilal

Liverpool’s summer architect has gone after just one full season. Richard Hughes has resigned as the club’s sporting director and is set to take up a role with Saudi Pro League giants Al Hilal, drawing a swift line under a brief but turbulent spell at Anfield.

Hughes only arrived in June 2024, recruited from Bournemouth to help steer Liverpool through a period of upheaval. His contract ran to 2027, yet his departure had long been anticipated inside the club, with the direction of travel clear once another managerial change loomed.

Hughes leaves having overseen a transfer outlay of around £200m in his first summer, headlined by the signing of Bradley Barcola from Paris St-Germain.

That window was supposed to be the foundation for a new era under Arne Slot. For a while, it looked exactly that.

Hughes, 47, walked into Liverpool just as Jurgen Klopp walked out. The German’s exit left a void; Hughes helped fill it by driving the search that ended with Slot’s appointment. The Dutchman then delivered instantly, guiding Liverpool to a 20th Premier League title in his debut season. The gamble looked inspired.

The recruitment kept coming. Hughes sanctioned a club-record £125m deal for Alexander Isak last summer and followed it with the £116m capture of Florian Wirtz, underlining Liverpool’s determination to stay at the sharp end of the market.

But the momentum stalled. Slot could not recreate the magic of his first campaign. Performances dipped, results followed, and Liverpool slid to a fifth-place finish last season. That was enough to end Slot’s reign and trigger yet another reset.

Into that vacuum stepped Andoni Iraola, a coach Hughes knew well from their time together at Bournemouth. The appointment carried a sense of familiarity for the sporting director, but it also underlined the scale of the rebuild still required. Hughes will not be around to see how it plays out.

In a statement released by the club, Hughes said he would carry Liverpool with him: “I’ll always follow and support the club with great affection, and I wish everyone involved nothing but success for this season and beyond.”

Mike Gordon, president of Fenway Sports Group, paid tribute to the impact Hughes made in a compressed, high-pressure spell.

“Richard joined us at the start of a period of change, embracing that responsibility by leading our football operations department and overseeing recruitment while also providing valuable support to our coaching staff,” Gordon said. “The results we achieved in these areas during this period are testament to this contribution. Nevertheless, we respect Richard’s life choices and wish him and his family well in their next venture.”

Liverpool now face another key appointment in the boardroom, just as Iraola begins to shape a squad Hughes helped assemble. The sporting director who built the latest version of Liverpool will be watching from Riyadh. How his signings fare without him may define the club’s next chapter.