Joyce:
Jörg Schmadtke will sign a short-term deal to become Liverpool’s new sporting director this week.
The 59-year-old is coming out of retirement to work alongside Jürgen Klopp as the club prepares for a crucial summer, when they will look to make a number of strategic signings.
Schmadtke left Wolfsburg in January but has been enticed back into football by the prospect of working at Liverpool. He is replacing the outgoing sporting director Julian Ward, who was officially in the role for a year. The deal will come with an option to extend should both parties be happy.
Klopp, the Liverpool manager, has known Schmadtke, a former goalkeeper with Fortuna Dusseldorf and Freiburg, for a number of years but denied that it is an appointment solely based on the two being acquaintances.
“If it happens, it would not be a Jürgen Klopp signing because we are both German or both know each other,” Klopp said Friday. “That would have nothing to do with it. I can say that.
“Jörg Schmadtke, I have known for a long, long time. He knows me probably not as long as I know him, because he was a much better player, but we started in a similar moment our second career.
“I became a coach at Mainz and he became sporting director at Aachen — two teams of similar status, so from there we know each other a little bit.
“I know he is a good guy and a smart guy. Very good at what he did in Germany, definitely, very successful. His character is good, his personality is good, his humour is good. I know that from a few moments next to the pitch.”
Schmadtke will work closely with the head of recruitment, Dave Fallows, and chief scout, Barry Hunter, with Liverpool seeking reinforcements in midfield — Alexis Mac Allister and Mason Mount are targets — while Klopp is also interested in defensive signings.