Manchester United football director “definitely going” with ideal replacement named

Manchester United a set to replace John Murtough as the club’s football director amid the pending investment of the Ineos Group.

Ineos are looking to make sweeping changes to Manchester United‘s footballing structure surrounding Erik ten Hag as Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to confirm his 25% stake in the club this week.

There has already been significant change, with current CEO Richard Arnold stepping down from his post and Patrick Stewart taking over on an interim basis while a permanent figure for the role is found.

And now, according to MEN, John Murtough, the club’s current football director, is “definitely going” alongside Arnold.

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With many unsure about where the future of United lies, several reports have claimed that Paul Mitchell is the current favourite to land the director of football role at Old Trafford, with Ratcliffe keen on the former Monaco and Tottenham man.

This role for Mitchell would be slightly different to the role that Murtough currently occupies, but would be more in the mould of the vision Ratcliffe has for the football club.

Arnold, on the other hand, is expected to be replaced by Jean Claude-Blanc, formerly of Paris Saint-Germain.

Mitchell has previously described the changes he would like to see at Manchester United.

“I think context is important to measure what Manchester United’s current situation is, but I think they do need to get to the point of really putting down what Manchester United needs to be in the modern game,” he said in 2022.

“We are a long time from the Sir Alex Ferguson era. Erik ten Hag is a top coach from Ajax but they need a top blueprint not only for now but for the next five years and work towards that, and sometimes on that journey there are hard moments when you don’t get the right results, even though you’re doing the right things.

“You have to know that, over that period, the consistency of the decision-making will yield a good end result. I think we’ve seen that both Manchester City and Liverpool, that when you adopt that long-term strategy you can get real consistency and sustainable success.

“I think that’s the biggest thing for Manchester United; putting down their identity of what they want to be today, but most crucially what they want to be in five years’ time, and where they want to be, and what they want to look like; from everything from young players, to the style of play, to the whole culture in Manchester United.”