The setting is a conference center just on the road of the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Park, not to differ from the weather in the United Kingdom this week on a cheerful spring afternoon.
A protective gentleman with jeans and a hoodie talks away with all kinds of folk and the general core is that he is whatever happens, he is happy in his current job and will not leave.
The man is the lesser spotted Michael Edwards, a private individual who is just as important for the success of Liverpool in the past decade as Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah.
A man who is so private that many media articles about him use a photo of a normal -giving page when Edwards and other Liverpool employees ran a marathon for charity in 2019.
But while he told people that he did not stop his new role with a data consultancy firm, Ludonautics, he was secretly negotiations to get the top job in football activities at Fenway Sports Group.
And after conversations with the FSG Top Brass in Boston that week, he effectively got the keys to Liverpool, which was publicly confirmed a year ago.
Twelve months later, Edwards looked up from the chic seats in Anfield when Liverpool crashed from the Champions League. He was sitting next to the man he had hired as a sports director, Richard Hughes, who in turn recreated Arne Slot when many external observers did not even consider the Feyenoord -Baas to a potential candidate.
Given the quality of the Paris Saint-Germain team that has eliminated them, their exit is not a shame and it is not time for panic.
Hughes and Slot, whose offices are next to each other in the Liverpool head office, have finally seen a season that go beyond the wildest dreams of most fans.
It was the hiring of Edwards who believed many of those supporters that the post-jurgen Klopp era would go smoothly and their future was in safe hands in the short term.
But what Edwards and Hughes would have noticed is that in the next five months, between now and the end of the summer transfer window, will determine whether this Liverpool side is a miracle of one season in terms of winning the title or that they are ready to build a dynasty in England and potential Europe.
For example, would Liverpool have enough with a productive striker to beat PSG? It would be difficult to grumble about that assumption if you introduce an Alexander Isak, Matheus Cunha or even Liam Delap, leading the line, to choose three productive strikers that can be on the market in the Premier League this summer.
There were times on Tuesday evening that Salah seemed to be abandoned by his attacking colleagues. He was gone in a creative sense, but none of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez or Cody Gakpo could finish their dinner.
Gakpo returns from an injury and is clearly not completely fit, while Jota may not trust his body after a number of malfunctions in the past three years. The other pair is confronted with somewhat uncertain future.
Liverpool has six attackers, but how much can they trust to be a consistent target scorer? The answer is an answer and that player, Salah, is no longer a contract within three months. Federico Chiesa, the only signing of the Slot-Hughes era, has played 25 competition minutes since participation.
That is a clear area to improve this summer if they continue in Europe's Premium competition. Gakpo will stay, but the other five are less clear: Nunez is interested in Saudi Aarabia, the Spanish press often flirts with Diaz who moves to Barcelona, Jota's injury record is worrying and Chiesa cannot get a snuff.
And what if Salah stays, but with him 33 will be in June, his record season cannot replicate? The Egyptian is the best player in the competition – if not the world – this year, but he cannot be trusted forever.
This analysis is reactionary, but it is these murderous decisions that Edwards and Hughes will earn their corn. In the past, Edwards led little loyalty and many familiar servants were moved and replaced by younger talents.
Yet the forward line is not the biggest problem this summer for the Liverpool top.
Virgil van Dijk and admits that he has 'no idea' where he will be eyebrows in August to say the least, while Real Madrid is hard and convinced that they can seduce Trent Alexander-Arnold to participate.
FSG has a policy not to expand the deals of those who are higher than a certain age, but if there are a series of circumstances that justify a policy change, it is for Salah and Van Dijk.
At the Red Sox of the FSG, Star Man Mookie Betts did not get a good new deal when he was a certain age and was allowed to leave, where he won two baseball world series elsewhere. Will the same thing happen if Salah leaves?
Whether they will register or not, is a dark topic. Both have expressed frustration about the lack of progress that was made in conversations. Offers have been put on the table for both, but neither has been accepted – so there is a conversation to have a conversation that if they wanted to stay so badly, they should have just had to sign?
Another problem area has been left, although Andy Robertson was perhaps the best Liverpool player against PSG. The captain of Scotland became Tuesday 31 and his deputy, Kostas Tsimikas, does not feel like a long -term replacement.
Liverpool searched the market in search of the man to fill the emptiness as soon as Robertson eventually leaves and Bournemouth's Milos Kerkez is one to watch, as Jorrel Hato is from Ajax.
Ryan Gravenberch enjoyed a world -class season in the defensive midfield, but looked somewhat long -legged in both games against PSG. If he or Alexis Mac Allister sustained a long -term injury, the midfield department would look light.
Again, to criticize this team is somewhat a dispute point in view of the seasonal slot at the elite level.
They will win this title on a canter, but if they want to defend their crown next season, and possibly try to go different steps in Europe, Liverpool may have to revise different parts of the team this summer.
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