Jean-Claude Blanc’s Manchester United role explained after Omar Berrada appointment

Manchester City’s Omar Berrada was announced as Manchester United’s new CEO on Saturday evening.

The Saturday evening news cycle took a big turn when The Athletic announced that Manchester United were set to appoint Omar Berrada as the club’s new Chief Executive Officer.

This took many by surprise as most expected INEOS’ Jean-Claude Blanc to become the club’s new CEO, but the former Manchester City man was seen as the favoured candidate by INEOS, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, and the Glazer family.

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The is being hailed as a major achievement by those familiar with the inner workings of the football world – Berrada is recognised as a key figure behind Manchester City’s successes in the last decade.

However, this does throw a question mark over the role of Blanc now that his expected job is no longer vacant.

According to iSport, Blanc is now expected to work alongside Berrada as part of Manchester United’s footballing board at Old Trafford.

The 60-year-old is to act as one of INEOS’ two representatives at the club, alongside Sir Dave Brailsford, where the pair will be in charge of United’s sporting operations, as per the agreement in Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s 25 per cent stake in the club.

The report further explains that INEOS’ larger plan at United is to create a committee on par with Manchester City’s in place before going after suitable signings for the squad in the summer.

Blanc himself is one of the most experienced sports marketing executives in Europe, having worked brilliantly at Paris St-Germain and also once acting as CEO of Italian club Juventus.