The high-profile signing of forward Darwin Nunez in the summer of 2022 is widely cited as a key moment that demonstrated Jürgen Klopp’s increasing transfer power, potentially contributing to the departure of highly-rated Sporting Director Michael Edwards later that year.

While Michael Edwards officially stated his exit was planned after a decade and driven by a big believer in change, reports have suggested an underlying tension between Jurgen Klopp’s personal preference and the club’s established data-driven recruitment model.

Jurgen Klopp’s Darwin Nunez decision reportedly caused tension behind the scenes at Liverpool

(Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

James Pearce of The Athletic reveals that Klopp insisted on the £64m deal for Nunez despite opposition from the analytics department, which favoured other data-backed targets like Christopher Nkunku or Alexander Isak.

Former Liverpool Director of Research Ian Graham also recently revealed that while the data had ranked Nunez and Isak highly, Klopp ultimately chose Nunez, which caused frictions.

However, as per the report, there were no bust-ups as such and eventually both Edwards and Ward stepped down in the pretext of over exhaustion.

Replying to a question about whether there was a power struggle between Klopp and Edwards, Pearce said: “It’s certainly fair to say that with longevity and...