There’s more flux within Liverpool Football Club than previously known.
Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon, who has orchestrated the club’s on- and off-field moves the last decade, recently began transferring responsibilities to Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan, according to sources familiar with the club’s thinking.
News of the ongoing power transfer comes just days after this week’s revelation that the soccer club is exploring whether it’s best to find new partners with needed capital or sell the club.
The developments are unrelated, said the sources, but the Gordon-to-Hogan baton transfer will still be factored in by any suitors examining the club’s books and weighing the pros and cons of making a partial or full investment bid.
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Gordon’s step-back is being described as a natural evolution, something he sought. The impact will be softened by the club’s growing confidence in Hogan, whose responsibilities will include working more closely on team-building decisions with manager Jürgen Klopp.
Internally, FSG views Hogan’s leadership and managerial skills in the same light as PGA Tour commissioner and former FSG executive vice president Jay Monahan and Red Sox president and CEO Sam Kennedy.
Hogan lives in England, while Gordon lives in the Boston area.
This summer, Michael Edwards, the club’s sporting director credited with identifying many of the best players to pick up or ship out, departed. He cited a desire to begin a new yet-to-be-determined professional chapter. Edwards was replaced internally by Julian Ward.
Gordon, Edwards, and Klopp worked closely together the last several years, which were marked by Liverpool reaching the highest pinnacles of European club soccer, including winning the Premier League in 2020-21 and the Champions League the year before.
“[Gordon] is just the brain behind all the things at Liverpool, that’s how it is,” said Klopp in a 2020 interview. “We can have ideas, we can have plans, but in the end he decides if we can do it or not.”
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The job transfer is in its early phases.
Gordon is not stepping back fully from his Liverpool role, and he will continue to make himself available to Hogan when needed.
Liverpool’s value was tabulated at $4.45 billion by Forbes this fall, 803 percent more than the $493 million FSG paid for it in 2010.
Forbes ranked Liverpool as the 22nd most valuable sports franchise in the world, eight spots ahead of FSG’s original team, the Red Sox ($3.9 billion).
This season, Liverpool has performed below expectations. Entering this weekend’s final game before the extended World Cup break, Liverpool was in eighth place in the Premier League, four spots out of Champions League qualification.
With the forecast uncertain about Liverpool’s future, Fenway Sports Group is still eyeing expansion, especially in the United States. Opportunities include an NBA team — the organization has been repeatedly tied to a Las Vegas expansion franchise — and the NFL, although current ownership rules preclude FSG from buying a franchise because of FSG’s private equity partners.
There’s nothing preventing FSG principal owner John Henry, who also owns the Globe, from assembling a private consortium to purchase a franchise such as the Washington Commanders, which recently came on the market.
One source said FSG would pursue an NBA or NFL team if it makes sense, but that FSG will not publicly reveal its intentions.
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Less than a year ago, FSG purchased the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins for $900 million.
Gordon is the fourth-largest shareholder of FSG.
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.