Klopp ‘intervention’ works in sporting director deal as Liverpool take ‘first steps’ to sign £35m midfielder

Jorg Schmadtke has agreed to become the new sporting director at Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp took a key role in his appointment, according to reports,

Julian Ward is set to leave the role at the end of current season with the Reds struggling in the Premier League for most of the season.

only months after replacing the influential Michael Edwards.

And now Football Insider claim that Klopp has got his man with the report insisting that Schmadtke ‘will soon be appointed the new Liverpool sporting director’.

The former sporting director at Hannover, Cologne and Wolfsburg ‘has reached a full agreement with the Reds and accepted a three-year contract offer’.

Klopp ‘has been key to the appointment after pushing the club’s board to consider his countryman for the role’ with Schmadtke leaving Wolfsburg in January after five years in the role.

Football Insider reveal ‘the plan’ for Schmadtke with the German set to ‘oversee the club’s new-look recruitment team alongside long-serving chief scouts Dave Fallows and Barry Hunter’.

And one of his biggest challenges will be helping Klopp bring in the right midfielders in the summer transfer window after a largely rotten season in the Premier League.

Many pundits and supporters expected the Reds to challenge Manchester City for the Premier League title again this season but they have spent most of the campaign languishing outside of the European places.

But Liverpool have recovered well in recent weeks with six wins on the bounce seeing them move into fifth and narrow the gap to fourth-placed Manchester United to just one point.

They have made improving their ageing midfield their top target for the summer and Italian publication Corriere dello Sport claims Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners is now of major interest to Liverpool.

The Reds are competing with Serie A giants Juventus for the Netherlands international’s signature with .

Corriere dello Sport insist that Liverpool have ‘already taken the first steps’ in their attempts to sign Koopmeiners with the Dutchman representing one of the cheaper midfielders linked to Anfield.