Ward rejected Bellingham to fund Liverpool's midfield rebuild — now he's returning as sporting director

Julian Ward is poised to return to Liverpool as sporting director, the club having turned to the man who previously held the role after Richard Hughes departed a year before his contract was due to expire.

Ward’s first stint at Anfield, which ended after the 2022/23 season, was defined by a series of significant transfer decisions — none more consequential than his call to walk away from the pursuit of Jude Bellingham.

At the start of that campaign, Liverpool were among the leading contenders to sign Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. Their ties to the club through Jürgen Klopp, Bellingham’s English nationality, and a pressing need to strengthen midfield all kept them in the conversation. Klopp publicly acknowledged Bellingham as a target. Ultimately, however, it was Ward who ended the chase.

According to The Athletic, Ward had doubts about whether Bellingham genuinely wanted to move to Merseyside, and was wary of committing marquee-level funds to a player whose heart might lie elsewhere. He also believed Liverpool’s resources were better deployed across multiple signings rather than concentrated in one. Real Madrid signed Bellingham for an initial £88.5 million, with add-ons potentially taking the fee to £115 million.

Klopp later endorsed the logic behind the decision, reflecting on how a single nine-figure outlay would have closed off the rest of the rebuild. “If one of the £100 million signings had worked, there’s no chance to do another,” the German said. “That’s what I meant when I said we are so lucky. Everything in the ‘if not scenario’ worked out.”

Klopp also addressed the broader financial discipline that shaped the club’s approach at the time: “We are not children; when you ask a five-year-old what they want for Christmas and they say a Ferrari, you wouldn’t say ‘oh, that’s a good idea’. You would say ‘no, that is too expensive and anyway, you cannot drive it’.”

Liverpool were also linked with Moisés Caicedo during that window, with a deal reported to have been agreed before the Ecuadorian midfielder ultimately joined Chelsea for what was then a British-record fee.

With Ward now set to step back into the sporting director role, Liverpool will be hoping his track record of pragmatic squad-building can help shape the next phase of the club’s development under the current regime.