Jamie Carragher offers insight into Michael Edwards recruitment strategy at Liverpool

Liverpool have found replacing Michael Edwards as sporting director a difficult task. 

Julian Ward was the man who succeeded the famous transfer guru at Anfield, but left his new role with the Reds after just a season.

Jorg Schmadtke was the stop-gap solution for Liverpool this campaign and oversaw two transfer windows, but has also since departed as the Reds continue their search for a long-term Edwards replacement.

However, it will be tough to find someone as universally adored as Edwards was during his time at Liverpool, the sporting director key to the Reds' success under Jurgen Klopp with his incredible transfer record.

Edwards was involved in deals to bring the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson to Liverpool among countless other stars, while he was always capable of negotiating fantastic fees for outgoing players.

A vital figure at Anfield, former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has revealed that he once went to meet Edwards as he sought some insight into what went on behind the scenes on Merseyside.

Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, Carragher revealed that he was surprised by what Edwards told him about Liverpool's recruitment strategy.

"People talk about Liverpool’s recruitment and Michael Edwards is always famed for what he did alongside Jurgen Klopp and people at the club," said Carragher.

"So I went to see him once, because I wanted a bit more information, it wasn’t for me to come out and speak but this is years later. I was expecting some real big insight into how many scouts they have, how they watch them, how they see different things.

"He just said the biggest thing for us about getting the players we want is relationships with agents. I was expecting more than that! But he was just saying it’s massive basically.

"You see about agent fees every year, and I’m not saying it’s just about the money, but he was talking about having good relationships with their agents."

It's certainly an interesting insight into one of the factors that Edwards and his recruitment team prioritised, with agent-club relationships a perhaps underappreciated aspect of transfers at the top level.

Whatever Edwards did to win over player agents worked wonders for the Reds, with Liverpool hopeful that their next sporting director can be equally as prosperous at Anfield.

The Reds have a number of candidates on their wishlist, including West Ham United's Tim Steidten, and will need to appoint someone swiftly to help in their search for Jurgen Klopp's replacement at the end of the season.