Should Edwards be criticised for contracts policy?

Liverpool have a curious habit of letting their high value but underused players run down their contracts and leave on a free, but should Michael Edwards be criticised for it?

This season Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno walked for nothing. Last campaign it was Emre Can. Next it could be Divock Origi. That’s a production line of value the Reds are letting slip through their fingers.

Edwards is doing superb work in the transfer market. Nearly all Liverpool’s buys have worked out, and the sales recoup ever increasing amounts. Is it because of this that Can’s, Moreno’s and Sturridge’s departures are overlooked?

Well, on the face of it maybe the transfer guru does deserve to have questions asked. Proper planning could have prevented this, or at least recouped some fee to add to the club coffers.

But that view is simplistic and fails to take into account the club’s long term planning and strategy.

Moreno was retained because he’s a first team quality left-back and knows the systems and tactics. Klopp could trust him. If Andy Robertson went down, the manager had a readymade replacement ready to step in.

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But the defender knew he wouldn’t play much with Robertson in the squad, but this wasn’t the case two years ago when Moreno started the campaign as first choice. By the time the tables were turned, it was too late. But it didn’t make sense to sell.

Now Liverpool have a full summer to look for a reserve, or have given Academy lad Adam Lewis another year to get ready for the first team. That’s clear, long-term strategy in action.

The Sturridge one seems to be a bit more opaque, but runs broadly along the same lines. Klopp needed someone to fill in for Roberto Firmino, which Studge did well at the start of the season.

It didn’t make sense to sell him last year either, and anyway who wanted to take him? Not many, especially after that awful loan at West Brom.

Origi, too, is too useful to let go now but is pausing over signing a new deal because of his doubts about minutes. But with the front three that the Reds have, any new player coming in will feel the same.

On the face of it, Edwards deserves to be criticised. But dig deeper and it’s just another example of the type clear headed, long-term thinking that turns clubs into champions.