Your morning Liverpool digest on Tuesday, January 11.
FSG make key hire behind scenes as former Manchester United man joins Liverpool
Liverpool have added a key appointment behind the scenes as they seek to grow the revenues of the club further in the coming years.
Owners Fenway Sports Group have hired Michael Higham, ex-head of sponsorship at Spanish La Liga side Sevilla, to the newly-created role of partnership development director, with the former Arsenal and Manchester United employee tasked with growing the Reds' sponsorship portfolio alongside the existing commercial team, according to Sport Business.
Higham, who was previously partner services manager at Arsenal and relationship manager at Manchester United, where he maintained and developed commercial partnerships with each club, arrives at Anfield from Roc Nation, the US entertainment agency that was founded by billionaire hip-hop mogul Jay-Z back in 2008.
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Higham joined Roc Nation, where he held the role of senior director of commercial partnerships, at the start of 2021 having left his role at Sevilla to take up the position.
Higham's time in Spain saw him key in the sponsorship deals with Valvoline, Marathonbet, Uber, EverFX, MyHeritage, TLC Bet, Vueling, FC Energia and Betfair, as well as the Nike kit deal extension.
He was also project lead on Sevilla's US summer tour in 2019, a tour where Sevilla faced Liverpool at Fenway Park, the home of the FSG-owned Boston Red Sox.
At Roc Nation, Higham's remit was to focus on commercial opportunities for the company's sporting roster, including Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne, Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku, rugby player Maro Itoje, Aston Villa's Tyrone Mings and, previously, Marcus Rashford.
To read the full story, click here.
Arsenal could be without eight players ahead of semi-final clash with Liverpool
Having overcome Shrewsbury in the FA Cup on Sunday, the Reds will already be preparing to take on Arsenal in the Carabao Cup semi-finals on Thursday.
The first leg of the cup clash will take place at Anfield as originally scheduled, after the away leg was postponed until January 20 due to a suspected Covid outbreak in the Liverpool camp.
Jurgen Klopp confirmed at the weekend that the Reds, who were forced to close the AXA Training Centre last week, had actually returned false positives, with the game expected to go ahead on Thursday.
Liverpool will be without several players, including Thiago Alcantara, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Divock Origi, plus the trio of players currently away at the Africa Cup of Nations.
However, Arsenal head into the first leg of the semi-final having lost to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup and boss Mikel Arteta could be without up to EIGHT first team players when his side line up to face the Reds.
The Gunners confirmed prior to kick-off against Forest at the weekend that both Granit Xhaka and young forward Folarin Balogun had tested positive for Covid-19, while the dates for their isolation periods are unknown.
To read the full story, click here.
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