Richard Hughes delivers GENIUS masterstroke

Over the course of the year, Richard Hughes has received a lot of slack but the Liverpool sporting director deserves praise for his genius decision.

Sure, the Reds didn't make many major signings last summer, with only Federico Chiesa joining Arne Slot's squad. But at the same time, they have also become Premier League champions.

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A lot of that credit goes to Hughes. He didn't inherit an easy position last year.

Replacing an iconic man like Jurgen Klopp is an impossible task. Klopp had become synonymous with Liverpool and there weren't many candidates who were viewed as realistic options to replace the German.

Among the favourites were Xabi Alonso, and Ruben Amorim. Both of them seemed like excellent candidates on paper. Amorim had dominated with Sporting CP, and he seemed to win over many Liverpool fans on social media.

Alonso was also adored by the club because of his previous time as a player. Not to mention he'd just led Bayer Leverkusen to an invincible season in the Bundesliga.

Yet, Hughes didn't opt for any of them. He shunned Alonso and turned down Amorim, instead choosing to replace Klopp with a relatively unknown figure in Slot.

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It's a decision that has proven to be a masterstroke. Especially, in the aftermath of the Europa League final.

Amorim has since ended up at Old Trafford, where admittedly he's inherited an even more difficult job. Yet no matter how difficult his job has been, the negative records he has set over the course of the last few months speak for themselves.

Manchester United could finish as low as 17th in the Premier League table. If it was any other season they would be in a relegation battle heading into the final day, having not even clinched the magical 40 points.

Amorim's only redemption was supposed to be the Europa League final. But on Wednesday night, Manchester United faltered at the final hurdle.

To make matters worse, it was to Tottenham that they faltered - a side who have perennially been known not to win trophies.

The embarrassment is night for Amorim. He's been exposed and he's looked out of sorts as United. The Telegraph has even suggested, he would be open to leaving the club already and jumping ship.

Liverpool fans will be grateful that in the end Hughes opted to pursue Slot and not Amorim.

Given everything we have seen it was a genius masterstroke from the Liverpool sporting director. The whole recruitment team had done their due diligence on both managers.

And it paid off, Slot not only has the tactical know-how to become a Premier League champion, he's shown this season he's got the demeanour to deal with the media and with big characters in the dressing room.

He was simply the best man for the job and credit to Hughes who spotted this early on and who was not afraid to go against the grain, when everyone was screaming Amorim.

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This was the most important decision Hughes had to make during his first year in charge and he got it right. That gives us hope that he's going to be getting many other decisions right in the years to come.