UK Edition
Manchester United to consider Rio Ferdinand for senior role at club
Manchester United will adopt a transfer committee style approach to recruitment as their former defender, Rio Ferdinand, emerged as the latest candidate under consideration for a senior football role.
Ed Woodward, the United executive vice-chairman, has been holding talks with a variety of figures, including Ferdinand, another former player Darren Fletcher, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s assistant, Mike Phelan, as the club seek improvements to their existing recruitment structure.
United plan to appoint their first technical director this summer, but he will not be solely responsible for calling the shots in the transfer market.
The plan is for a more collegiate approach, of the kind adopted by rivals Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal, that involves manager Solskjaer and his immediate coaching staff in addition to an incoming technical director and existing figures such as chief scout Jim Lawlor and Marcel Bout, the head of global scouting.
United want to avoid a repeat of the situation that developed under Jose Mourinho, Solskjaer’s predecessor, where players were imposed against the recommendations of others, and hope group input and the power of veto will lead to more joined up, smarter thinking and broader agreement on potential recruits.
The technical director will be expected to take a longer-term view as the club seek to move away from expensive short-term fixes and scattergun spending and adopt a patient, prudent approach in what is shaping up to be a significant rebuilding process. Solskjaer wants a right back, two midfielders and a right-sided forward this summer, but may face a wait for another centre-half.
Fletcher, 35, the former United midfielder who is out of contract at Stoke City at the end of the season, and Ferdinand, 40, a prominent pundit for BT Sport and ambassador for the New Era agency, are among those who have had talks with Woodward. Internal candidates have also been discussed. Phelan is expected to play a prominent role in the revamp and is known to have raised concerns about existing lines of communications and United’s bloated scouting network during contract talks since Solskjaer’s permanent appointment.
Solskjaer and Phelan both played for the club, as did first team coach Michael Carrick, and United are keen to encourage more former players to take prominent roles, a model which has proved successful on the continent at clubs such as Ajax, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, as part of a “cultural reset” following Mourinho’s turbulent regime.