Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Mark Wakefield

Liverpool linked with Julian Ward 'replacement' responsible for some of Jurgen Klopp's best ever signings

After the news emerged that Julian Ward will be leaving his role as Liverpool’s sporting director at the end of the season, attention is switching to who will be his replacement.

Reports on Wednesday emerged that Sven Mislintat has become a potential candidate to take on the role at Anfield. The Reds will already be searching for a possible replacement for Ward, who will depart after just one year in the job.

Mislintat has worked with Jurgen Klopp in the past, having spent a decade as a scout at Borussia Dortmund. The 50-year-old has since had a two-year spell as head of scouting at Arsenal, before he left in 2019.

READ MORE: Borussia Dortmund chief sends message to 'preferred club' Liverpool over Jude Bellingham transfer

READ MORE: Luis Suarez refuses to apologise to Ghana after being called the 'devil' in remarkable press conference

After leaving the Gunners, Mislintat returned to his homeland in Germany and took on the sporting director role at Stuttgart. However, he recently left that role and is now out of work.

With rumours linking him with the job at Liverpool emerging, we take a look at his track record in the transfer market across his career. Here are some of the deals we believe are ‘hits’ and ‘misses’.

Hits

Mats Hummels

Dortmund first signed Mats Hummels on a permanent deal in 2009, 18 months after he had a loan spell from Bayern Munich. He would go on to become a key centre-back for the German club, catapulting them to the Bundesliga title on two occasions.

He was sold back to Bayern seven years later as Dortmund made a major profit on the deal. Hummels would then return to Signal Iduna Park in 2019, two years after Mislintat left the club.

Shinji Kagawa

Dortmund signed Shinji Kagawa on a free transfer in 2010 from Japanese club Cerezo Osaka. From there, like Hummels, he would become a key player in the midfield for the German club on the way to two league title triumphs.

Kagawa also scored in the 2012 German Cup final against Bayern Munich, just a few months before being sold to Manchester United.

Robert Lewandowski

Arguably the most successful signing in Dortmund’s recent history, Mislintat helped scout Robert Lewandowski in 2010 from Lech Poznan in a deal that reached €4million. He would go on to score 103 goals in 187 appearances and helped Dortmund and Klopp reach the Champions League final in 2013.

Ilkay Gundogan

Another one of Mislintat and Klopp’s bargain signings, where Dortmund brought Ilkay Gundogan to the club for around €4m in 2011.

He would go on to become a key player in the Bundesliga title triumph in his first season, before being sold to Manchester City in 2016.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Mislintat was involved in two separate deals to sign Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, with the first coming in 2013. While he would not win the league title at Dortmund, he would go on to score 141 goals in 213 appearances.

Arsenal, with Mislintat in charge of signings, would then sign Aubameyang in 2018 as one of his first major signings in north London. A total of 92 goals in 163 games suggests the move was also a hit rather than a miss.

Misses

Ciro Immobile

After the departure of Lewandowski on a free transfer to Bayern Munich in 2014, Dortmund needed a new striker. So they turned to Italy and signed Ciro Immobile from Torino.

The Italian was full of promise and had the makings of being a good successor to Lewandowski. However, things did not go fully to plan.

He would score 10 goals in 34 appearances, but would have just one full season in Dortmund before having a loan spell at Sevilla which was soon made a permanent deal.

Andre Schurrle

Having impressed with Chelsea, Mislintat felt that bringing Andre Schurrle to Dortmund would be a good deal for everyone involved. However, it did not turn out that way.

A total of eight goals in 51 appearances, with loan stints at Fulham and Spartak Moscow, would suggest that the deal was not one of the best in Tislintat’s career. Schurrle retired from professional football in 2020, four years after moving to Dortmund.

Stephan Lichtsteiner

Mislintat wanted to add experience to Arsenal’s squad when he moved to the Emirates. One of his first signings was to bring in Stephan Lichtsteiner.

The experienced defender arrived from Juventus in 2018, but would spend just a single season in North London before being sold to Augsburg, just a few months after Mislintat left to return to Germany with Stuttgart.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

It was one of the most high profile deals in Premier League history. Arsenal and Manchester United agreed a swap deal in 2018 that saw Alexis Sanchez move to Old Trafford, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving to the Emirates.

However, he would score just nine goals in 59 appearances before being sold to Roma in 2020 after spending the previous campaign on loan in Italy. Mkhitaryan spent just 18 months wearing the Arsenal shirt.

Matteo Guendouzi

When Arsenal and Mislintat signed Matteo Guendouzi from Lorient in 2018, many thought it would prove to be a long-term signing for the future of the club. That did not go to plan, to say the least.

Guendouzi would last two years in Arsenal’s first team, making 82 appearances, before being sent out on loan to Hertha Berlin and Marseille across the next two seasons. He was eventually sold to the French club earlier this year.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.