Liverpool are set to appoint Laurie Shaw as their new chief scientist when his gardening leave from the City Football Group ends.
In a move that is being viewed inside the club as a major coup in the field of football data, Shaw will work under director of research Will Spearman as the Reds look to plan for the future, potentially as Premier League champions.
Shaw had been the director of football data at the City Football Group (CFG) - who own Manchester City, La Liga outfit Girona and MLS side New York City among others - but has been awaiting his next challenge since January and the Reds have swooped to add him to the research department at the AXA Training Centre.
READ MORE: Fulham man in no mood for Mohamed Salah questions as Marco Silva fumes over Liverpool decision
It's unclear when the former City operative will begin his role but the ECHO understands the position is specific to Liverpool FC as they continue to reshape an area of the club that has long been the envy of football in data circles.
Shaw had been at CFG since 2021 but had previously worked for a £30billion hedge fund while also acting as a policy advisor to the British government. He holds a PhD in Astrophysics from Cambridge University, and an Msci from Imperial College, London.
The move, which comes as FSG's CEO of football Michael Edwards continues to explore the merits of the multi-club model to add to the Americans owners' portfolio of sports teams, is viewed as a way of keeping Liverpool at the cutting edge of the latest trends and developments in football.
Liverpool's data-driven model has been instrumental to the success of recent years, particularly in the transfer market, where it helped unearth value in players like Andy Robertson, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, among others.
The department was headed up by Dr Ian Graham between 2018 and 2022 when the club won every top-level trophy available before the Welshman was replaced by Dr Spearman, who was promoted to the position at the start of the 2022/23 campaign.
Liverpool's devotion to data played a huge part in unearthing Arne Slot as Jurgen Klopp's successor last summer, with the models used determining the Dutchman to be the best fit to take control of the squad that was left by the outgoing manager 13 months ago.
Shaw, who was born in Manchester but grew up in Scotland, graduated with a first in physics from Imperial College London before completing his PhD in astrophysics from Cambridge in 2006.
