Richard Hughes just made his biggest mistake yet at Liverpool

Richard Hughes has been a divisive figure at Anfield since he joined Liverpool ahead of the 2024/25 season.

The Englishman reportedly played a key role in the recruitment of Jurgen Klopp’s successor, Arne Slot, and has led the Reds’ recruitment team for the last four transfer windows.

This winter window will likely mark the second of Hughes’ four windows where no senior players have arrived at the club, and that is on top of his first summer when only Federico Chiesa was signed.

Hughes did oversee a £400 million plus revamp of the Reds’ Premier League winning squad last summer, bringing several world class talents to Merseyside, but Liverpool’s sporting director has just made his biggest mistake at the club.

Richard Hughes makes crucial mistake

Liverpool’s need for defensive reinforcements has been clear all season. The Reds missed out on Marc Guehi on the final day of the summer transfer window and haven’t signed an alternative.

Multiple season-ending injuries have since struck Slot’s side and currently Liverpool have just two fit central defenders and no fit right-back.

It looked absolutely necessary for the Reds to add to their backline this winter, but no additions were made.

Liverpool once again missed out right at the end of the window, with a deal falling through for Dutch defender Lutsharel Geertruida because Sunderland were unable to find a replacement for him.

It does look like Jeremy Jacquet will be a Liverpool player, but he won’t join up with the squad until the summer.

Liverpool needed a defender this window

Retaining the Premier League title looks almost impossible for Liverpool now, it would take a real miracle, but winning the Champions League and the FA Cup are still realistic prospects for the Reds.

Signing another defender would have boosted Slot’s chances of success in the cup competitions massively, and now it feels like Liverpool will likely have to sacrifice performance in the league if they are serious about winning in Europe.

Dominik Szoboszlai is repeatedly deployed as a right-back, despite the fact the Hungarian is probably the Reds’ most effective midfielder.

The injury prone nature of Joe Gomez, and seemingly Jeremie Frimpong, means Liverpool’s defence is likely to be struck down by injury again later in the season, and when that does happen it will look foolish to have no strengthened in January.

Slot’s side had an obvious gap to fill and no one was added in the winter, that could well come back to bite Liverpool in the business end of the season.

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