Sir Jim Ratcliffe still hasn’t officially completed his minority takeover of Manchester United but the INEOS chief is already moving pieces on the chessboard and plotting how to return his beloved club to their former glories.
Chief executive Richard Arnold has already left and INEOS Sport CEO Jean-Claude Blanc, who has been dubbed ‘the Lionel Messi of sport business’ is expected to take his place and lead the club’s revamp. But Ratcliffe is not about to stop there and a new sporting director is on the cards.
Ratcliffe has been scathing of United’s recruitment strategy in the past, describing it as ”shockingly poor” and labelling the Red Devils as ‘the dumb money”. And, looking at the club’s steep decline since Sir Alex Ferguson left, who could disagree?
Despite spending around £400m ($497m) in the last two years United have endured a horrendous start to the Premier League season and are on the brink of exiting the Champions League, a damning indictment of current sporting director John Murtough’s time in charge.
Here are the candidates Ratcliffe and INEOS colleague Sir Dave Brailsford are looking at to lead United’s reboot…
Dougie Freedman
The former striker has helped Crystal Palace become Premier League mainstays in the last decade thanks to some highly astute moves ever since becoming sporting director in 2017.
Freedman specialises in bringing in talented but underrated youngsters, signing Eberechi Eze from Queens Park Rangers for £17m ($21m), Marc Guehi from Chelsea for £18m ($22m) and Michael Olise from Reading for £8m, turning all three players into highly valuable assets now worth more than £60m ($74m) each.
He also oversaw the construction of Palace’s new academy, which opened in 2021. Given United’s rich history of bringing through young players and his relationship with Ferguson, a former neighbour, it is easy to see why he is being touted to lead the Red Devils’ recruitment.
Andrea Berta
Diego Simeone has been the clear architect of Atletico Madrid’s stunning success over the last decade but Berta has been working in the shadows for almost as long, making sure the Argentine has been fully equipped to maintain the club’s status as Spain’s third superpower.
A former banker, Berta grew his reputation by working with Parma and Genoa, and was hired as Atletico’s technical director in 2013 after striking up a relationship with president Enrique Cerezo. He was promoted to sporting director in 2017 at the expense of club legend Jose Luis Caminero. Under his watch, Atletico have won two La Liga titles and never finished below third in the table, as well as reaching two Champions League finals.
Berta has been credited with making hugely successful signings such as Jan Oblak and Antoine Griezmann and profitable transfers such as selling Lucas Hernandez and Rodri for large fees. It hasn’t all been plain sailing though: Joao Felix proved a bad fit with Simeone, while Diego Costa’s return also turned sour.
Paul Mitchell
Mitchell is hugely admired by Ratcliffe, who he came to know while working for Monaco, where the INEOS chief resides. Mitchell built his reputation for his work at Southampton while working alongside Mauricio Pochettino and then followed the Argentine to Tottenham.
He was responsible for signing Son Heung-min, Dele Alli, Toby Alderweireld and Kieran Trippier, who all fuelled Spurs’ rise as one of the top teams in the Premier League. Mitchell left Spurs in 2016 and went on to work for RB Leipzig and then Monaco.
He is currently without a club after leaving the Ligue 1 side in March.
Lee Congerton
The Welshman has had a long and varied career in football, first working with the youth team of Liverpool in 2002 and then being head-hunted by Jose Mourinho to do the same role at Chelsea. Congerton was then promoted to chief scout at Stamford Bridge, bringing through players including Daniel Sturridge.
He was later hired by Hamburg but returned to English football to work for Sunderland, before reuniting with former colleague Brendan Rodgers at Celtic. He followed Rodgers to Leicester and last year moved abroad again to become head of recruitment at Atalanta.
One of his first acts with the Serie A club was to sign Rasmus Hojlund, leading to a huge windfall a year later when the Danish striker was sold to United for £72m.
Paolo Maldini & Ricky Massara
The legendary AC Milan captain was seemingly enjoying a dream return to the Rossoneri. He joined his beloved former club as technical director in 2019, working under sporting director Frederic ‘Ricky’ Massara, and three years later the pair helped the club win their first Serie A title in 11 years.
The duo’s signings played a huge role in Milan’s success, in particular Theo Hernandez, Rafael Leao, Olivier Giroud and Fikayo Tomori. However, just one year after winning the title and despite Milan reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, Maldini and Massara were sacked by the club as part of a restructure under American owner Gerry Cardinale.
The pair are now up for grabs and are reported to be among those being considered by Ratcliffe.
