Football
Mark Rodden 8y

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has final say on transfers - chief exec Ian Ayre

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre has insisted that the club's manager has always had the final say on new signings.

Ayre was reacting to media speculation over the influence of the club's transfer committee following the sacking of former boss Brendan Rodgers last month.

Rodgers initially defended the club's structure after his departure before suggesting some of the players the club bought were not his choices.

New manager Jurgen Klopp was forced to address the issue when he took over with the German maintaining that he would have "the first and the last word" on transfers.

Ayre is heavily involved in the player recruitment process but, speaking at the Web Summit in Dublin, he backed up Klopp's position.

"The words 'transfer committee' I think got used once and became this idea that we all sit around a table and have a vote on every player we sign," he said. "That couldn't be further from the truth.

"There's only one person has the final say on players at Liverpool Football Club. Right now that's Jurgen Klopp and that's always been the case -- certainly all the time I've been there."

Ayre has served in several roles at Anfield during his eight years at the club, meaning he saw the beginning and the end of Rodgers' reign.

He rejected suggestions that the former Swansea boss did not want some of the players who were brought in.

"Brendan had the final say on all the players we signed," Ayre said. "I don't think we're doing anything any different to most football clubs, which is the manager will say 'I want to look for somebody in this position.'"

Ayre said a combination of traditional scouting and "more analytical and digital-based information" would be used to determine a potential signing's suitability.

He said that, similar to a more traditional scouting process, information on a list of top targets would then be brought before the manager.

"The manager will either go watch or have the scouts go watch those players," Ayre added. "We'll narrow it down and then at that point I'll become more involved and start talking -- to clubs, agents, players -- on the negotiation basis of the deal.

"And then the manager will choose. And that's never changed."

He says Liverpool do not think of this method as a transfer committee and reiterated that what they do is similar to many other top-level clubs.

"The committee is a collaboration of all of those people that all contribute to letting the manager make that decision," he said. "And I think actually that's very smart."

He agreed that the process of signing a player had become too complicated for one person but warned that "that's not the same as making the decision" in place of the manager.

"Look at the last three months at Liverpool," he said. "We've got a game every three days.

"When's the manager going to go fly around the world watching players that he thinks he might sign? When's the manager going to go and negotiate with an agent?"

Instead Ayre said scouts and analysts with "great experience in the game" will provide Klopp with the tools to make "the best decision" about which player to sign.

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