Sources close to Manchester United have told HITC Football that they are poised to seal the appointment Manchester City’s Omar Berrada as their new chief executive.
United are embarking on a rebuild of the footballing operation – headed up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, whose INEOS company who are taking a 25 per cent stake of the Old Trafford giants and is just awaiting Premier League approval.
As part of the investment from Ratcliffe, the club’s controlling owners the Glazer Family have agreed to let him take control of the footballing operation. INEOS’ Sir Dave Brailsford has been undertaking a review of the club’s operations in recent months and raft of appointments are due to be made.
The chief executive role was initially due to be taken by Jean-Claude Blanc the former Paris Saint-Germain general manager who is currently the CEO of sporting operations at INEOS.
However, Ratcliffe is keeping him at INEOS but HITC Football has been told that Blanc will play a crucial role on the overall project and he has helped pick out Berrada.
City role
Berrada is currently chief football operations officer at City Football Group – who run City, as well as their entire network of clubs – but his main role was in connection with City. He has a background in marketing having been their commercial director. He was also previously a business development boss and head of sponsorship at Barcelona.
City have confirmed Berrada exit in a statement to The Athletic: “Manchester City Football Club can confirm that Omar Berrada has resigned from his role as chief football operations officer at City Football Group.
“The club understands his decision to look for a new challenge and he leaves with our thanks and best wishes.”
The Spaniard succeeds Richard Arnold at United, who left his role at Old Trafford late last year. Berrada is the first major appointment by Ratcliffe with Brailsford – although work is well underway on other appointments.
It is understood the new footballing department is set to have a sporting director figure, which will be more aligned with the football and sporting side than Berrada who will be overseeing the business operation. A head of recruitment is also being lined-up.
He is not expected to start work at Manchester United until next season HITC Football has been told.
Brailsford targets more
HITC Football has previously revealed that Brailsford is hoping to lure Newcastle’s Dan Ashworth as their sporting director. In terms of the recruitment role, it understood that former Monaco chief Paul Mitchell is the leading candidate for that role.
Brailsford himself was not expected to have a full-time role when initially taking on the assessment of the club, but HITC Football is told that many at Old Trafford have been very impressed with the former cycling supremo and going forward he could very well take on a senior position.
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