Man Utd to appoint new director of football ahead of recruitment purge

Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos team hope to appoint a new director of football at Manchester United within the next few weeks ahead of an anticipated purge of the club’s existing recruitment operation.

United announced the appointment of Manchester City’s former chief operating officer Omar Berrada as the club’s new chief executive 10 days ago and now Ineos have whittled down the search for a new director of football to a couple of names.

Dan Ashworth, Newcastle’s director of football, Julian Ward, the former Liverpool sporting director, Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman and Paul Mitchell, formerly head of recruitment at Tottenham who went on to a similar role at Monaco, are thought to be among those whose credentials have been discussed.

On the continent, the likes of Atletico Madrid’s Andrea Berta, Cristiano Giuntoli from Juventus, Lee Congerton at Atalanta and Frederic Massara and Paolo Maldini, who left AC Milan last year, have also been linked.

Ineos wanted Berrada in place first so he could have some valuable input into the choice of director of football given their strong belief that the two men and the manager must “share a vision” and work as a “coherent whole”.

Sources have indicated that Berrada – who is to formally start in the summer – and the incoming director of football will ultimately be the ones to determine the fate of United’s existing manager, Erik ten Hag, whose future remains shrouded in uncertainty.

Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc, Ineos’ director of sport and chief executive respectively, would be there as the company’s representatives on the football club board to offer any counsel as it was needed.

It remains to be seen whether Ineos also look to bring in a performance director or make another senior appointment in recruitment.

John Murtough currently oversees transfer policy as United’s football director with Ten Hag but his roles and responsibilities will be downgraded in the shake-up unless he was to leave the club altogether.

United’s recruitment and scouting operations have been under scrutiny for years and insiders have not ruled out those departments being gutted and redrawn as part of an overhaul. “I don’t think there are any sacred cows in this,” one source said.

Ratcliffe hopes his £1.03 billion deal for a 28.9 per cent stake in United, and which comes with the guarantee of a further £237 million of initial investment for Old Trafford, will gain regulatory approval in the next fortnight.

Brailsford’s audit of United’s football operations will not formally commence until the deal has the green-light and is expected to take around six weeks but Ineos have already identified the need for drastic changes to the club’s failing recruitment set-up.

With a critical summer window to plan for and Ineos recognising that the club can ill afford more transfer failures, the appointment of a director of football is said to be paramount. “It needs to happen quickly,” one insider said. “It’s so important for the project that we can’t hang about.”

Sources said the combination of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR) and years of poor buys had also created added budgetary pressures that make it even more important United spend wisely.

Ineos feel the improvement at Nice – the French club they also own – has been driven in large part by the success of the triumvirate now leading the club.

Florent Ghisolfi joined the club as sporting director in October 2022 the month after Fabrice Bocquet was appointed chief executive and then last June the talented young Italian Francesco Farioli became Nice’s fifth permanent manager since Ineos took over four-and-a-half years ago. Jean-Pierre Rivère serves as president.

Nice are currently second in Ligue 1 behind Paris Saint-Germain and on course for Champions League qualification.

Ineos believe they have learnt valuable lessons from the Nice experience to date and hope to ensure they have a successful management team in place at Old Trafford spearheaded by Berrada, the director of football and manager.

United face Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Thursday with Ten Hag under pressure to make up ground on the top four as he continues to wrestle with disciplinary issues in his squad.

Marcus Rashford will be available for selection for the game despite the England striker going out on Wednesday and Thursday nights in Belfast last week then reporting ill on Friday and subsequently missing United’s 4-2 FA Cup win at Newport County.

United, who have lost 14 matches in all competitions this term, are currently eighth in the Premier League, 11 points adrift of Aston Villa in fourth.