Changes are already being put in place behind the scenes (Picture: Getty)
John Murtough is set to lose his job as Manchester United’s football director as part of sweeping changes introduced by Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
Britan’s richest man is set to complete his purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the Premier League club this week, with the £1.3billion deal securing him control of sporting matters.
Ratcliffe’s Ineos Group already have extensive experience taking over sports teams, notably Ligue 1 side Nice, and will look to instal their own faces as soon as the deal has been rubberstamped.
Moves are already being made in anticipation of Ratcliffe’s takeover, with United announcing last week that CEO Richard Arnold would leave the club by the end of the year.
Now another major figure at the club, United’s de facto head of recruitment Murtough, looks set to follow Arnold out the door.
According to the Manchester Evening News, Ineos are already planning to replace the long-serving football director with one source saying he is ‘definitely going’.
Murtough has spent the past decade at Old Trafford and was promoted to his current role in March 2021, one of the last major decisions of Ed Woodward’s reign.
Ratcliffe’s 25% stake will secure him control of sporting matters (Picture: Getty)
He has had mixed success in the transfer market, spending big on the likes of Jadon Sancho and Antony – both of whom have failed to live up to their significant price tags.
Ratcliffe is set to bring in a new sporting director to overhaul United’s approach to recruitment, moving more towards data and away from an approach that has seen managers dictate which players are brought to the club.
They have already been linked with a host of potential replacements for Murtough, from ex-Liverpool transfer guru Michael Edwards to Crystal Palace’s Dougie Freedman.
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Paul Mitchell appears to be the most likely candidate, with the former Tottenham and RB Leipzig chief having particularly impressed Ineos during his most recent spell at Monaco.
Arnold, meanwhile, is set to be replaced by former Paris Saint-Germain chief Jean Claude-Blanc, who is a new addition to the Ineos Group sporting family.
According to the MEN’s report, Ratcliffe and his team – which includes Sir David Brailsford – have been left unimpressed by a number of departments at United and are ready to implement sweeping changes.
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