“I wouldn’t work with them…” – Sir Dave Brailsford will bring polar opposite approach to Manchester United players

Sir Dave Brailsford has explained his approach to working with talented sportsmen, and it will be a breath of fresh air for Manchester United fans.

Brailsford, 61, will come into Old Trafford as Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s right-hand man on the United board. He is expected to play a key role in the Ineos turnaround alongside Jean Claude Blanc.

Having played a key role in British Cycling’s most successful period in the Olympics, Brailsford is obsessed with the marginal gains that can be made at the top level of sport.

At Manchester United, there have often been moves for players at the top of the game without much thought about their mentality and passion for the project. This has led to countless unsuccessful transfers.

Brailsford, on the other hand, believes that in order to get to the ‘discretionary’ levels of performance he desires, there needs to be a top mentality and work ethic.

Asked how he deals with athletes who have so much talent but lack the drive he talks about, Brailsford explained: “In our world, you wouldn’t work with them. I wouldn’t work with them. I’d support them and not be unpleasant or unkind or anything. But it’s not going to work.

“You have to have that commitment and that drive, and that’s got to be there. If that’s not there, then you don’t go past square one, really.

“When you’re young, you can perform and get to a really high standard on your talent, but when you get to the top of the top and there’s maybe five or six who have a similar level of talent.

“Some can get the best out of themselves. You can get that normal high level of performance, and then every now and then, you get this discretionary level of performance – that little bit on top, thinking that was absolutely me or you at our best.

“We’re not in the business of that high level of performance, we’re in the business of trying to get that discretionary performance as often as possible when it really matters.

“And that’s what we really got to think about, and it’s unlikely that you get that on talent alone. Even in the most out-there talent, who are flamboyant or do the unexpected, they nearly all are committed and very, very bought in and driven by what they’re doing.”

Whilst many United fans will want to see action, rather than words, after their experiences with Ralf Rangnick, Brailsford will be given the power, and his search to find marginal gains in every way will hopefully lead to United not keeping or buying players who aren’t up for the task.