It remains to be seen whether Liverpool made the right sporting director appointment after handing Richard Hughes the keys in 2024.

The Reds took their time in appointing Hughes, but the former Bournemouth man is yet to fully convince many supporters.

As well as overseeing an incredibly quiet summer and then January transfer window, Hughes has also failed to tie down Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold to new Liverpool contracts.

While the jury remains out on Hughes, though, he should be given the benefit of the doubt until he’s actually made some signings.

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Finding a sporting director who aligns with the club’s philosophies is not easy for any team.

You don’t rack up 320 appearances for this club without being of a certain level, after all.

On-fire Nottingham Forest striker Chris Wood recently named Skrtel as one of his toughest opponents and the Slovak probably deserves more acclaim than he often gets at Liverpool.

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Nevertheless, he is certainly celebrated in Slovakia, where he played 104 times for the national team.

Skrtel eventually ended his playing career back home with Spartak Trnava, and on Monday was announced as the same team’s new sporting director.

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It follows on from his exit at Dunajska Streda which is described as being ‘under mysterious circumstances’ by Czech outlet Infotbal.

Skrtel spent just over a month at Trnava’s Slovak league rivals before leaving last October.

Spartak Trnava are historically one of the biggest clubs in Slovakia, last winning the Slovak First League in 2017/18.

They regularly compete in European competition, having been knocked out of the Conference League qualifying rounds for 2024/25.

They last made the group stage of a European tournament by playing in the Conference League in 2023/24, while also previously competing in the Europa League group stage in 2018/19.

Trnava have never been in the Champions League since its rebranding, but did make the European Cup quarter-finals back in 1973/74.

Best of luck Martin in your new endeavour, let’s hope it last longer than the last one!