Al-Hilal giving Liverpool huge Richard Hughes warning

Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes was a key piece in the jigsaw for the club’s post-Jurgen Klopp rebuild.

The Scotsman was the one who led the appointment of Arne Slot as head coach - which delivered the Premier League title in the 2024/25 season.

When Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah needed new contracts it was Hughes who managed to tie them down to mammoth £400k per week deals.

And last summer Hughes was entrusted to carry out around £450m worth of spending.

He brought in Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak on British record deals - and masterminded other transfers for Milos Kerkez, Giovanni Leoni, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Hugo Ekitike.

Hughes also went some way towards offsetting the Premier League champions’ record-breaking spend by negotiating deals for Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, Jarell Quansah and many more.

Richard Hughes' excellent reputation

In winter he orchestrated the signing of Jeremy Jacquet - who will arrive on a deal worth up to £62m next summer.

Add his excellent work with Bournemouth into the mix and you can see why Hughes would be in demand for any top teams considering a sporting director.

The likes of Antoine Semenyo, Illia Zabarnyi, Dango Ouattara, Milos Kerkez and others were signed by Hughes at the south coast - with those players going on to earn a fortune for the Cheries in the market.

Now comes the news that Hughes is on the radar of Saudi giants Al-Hilal.

Saudi claims that Hughes is close to Al-Hilal

The Riyadh club sent an initial £46m Liverpool’s way last summer in a deal for Darwin Nunez - and these two clubs will be no strangers to one another owing to that transaction.

Saudi sources are growing in their belief that Hughes’ appointment as new sporting director at Al-Hilal is imminent.

And while we are not sure if it’s quite that far down the line we do understand that Hughes has been Simone Inzaghi’s club’s top target for the position for a long time.

“Saudi Sports Channels revealed that Al-Hilal's management is close to signing a contract with Scottish Richard Hughes, the sporting director of Liverpool FC,” Erem News reports.

“The channel did not reveal any further details, but confirmed that he is the most likely candidate, should his time with the Reds come to an end.”

Losing Hughes would be a significant blow for FSG - with the Italian-raised executive proving his mettle during his time at the club thus far.

Under his guidance the club have managed to tie down key players to contracts, have sold well when the situation required it, and have gone toe-to-toe in the market for the very best players in the world.

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