Manchester United are undergoing major changes at the upper-management level and British Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe is reported to be close to acquiring a 25% ownership stake at the club soon. After he arrives, the Englishman is also expected to ring in management changes and appoint a new sporting director.
Manchester United’s Priority Sporting Director Target Revealed
Who Are United Targeting For Key Role?
Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Paul Mitchell remains the favourite to become the new sporting director for the Red Devils. He adds that the Englishman has been first-choice for the role “since day one”, probably an indication that Sir Jim always considered appointing him after his acquisition deal goes through.
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However, it is also stated that there are more candidates in the frame for the position currently held by John Murtough at Old Trafford. The journalist further claims that the official announcement of the billionaire’s acquiring 25% of the ownership stake in United will be done next week. After that, the final decision on the appointment of a new sporting director will be made. This appears to be part of a wide overhaul at the upper-management scene at the club, with CEO Richard Arnold recently also stepping down from his role.
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Who Is Paul Mitchell?
A former footballer with over 160 professional appearances in his career that spanned in England, the 42-year-old has become a highly-rated director due to his impressive history in trms of cunning recruitment. Mitchell started to garner a reputation with his work at Southampton, where he joined as the Head of Recruitment in 2012 and worked alongside Mauricio Pochettino.
He was credited for signing the likes of Nathaniel Clyne, Steven Davis and Maya Yoshida in economic deals, before also going on to join Tottenham Hotspur after Pochettino’s move. At Spurs, Mitchell was instrumental in identifying and signing quality players like Son Heung-min, Dele Alli and Kieran Trippier.
After leaving the club in 2018, the Englishman also took up a recruitment role at Bundesliga club RB Leipzig and signed some quality young players for them too. He joined AS Monaco as their sporting director in 2020, working for them for three years before leaving earlier this year. He’s currently up for grabs and it appears that United might want to bring in the experienced individual to help improve their recruitment of quality young players going forward.
