Omar Berrada’s first move as Man United CEO holds important value to club history

Omar Berrada was confirmed to be Manchester United’s new chief executive officer under the brand new regime under Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS.

The former Manchester City and City Football Group CFO will be the one to lead the changes at United under the new sporting leadership.

He was extremely well-regarded when working at City and will offer the Old Trafford club some important knowledge as they enter into this exciting period.

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At this moment in time, the new CEO is on gardening leave from City and is not going to officially be in place at United until the summer.

However, it seems unlikely that Berrada isn’t doing some sort of work behind the scenes to help prepare the club for its biggest transitional period in the last decade.

The most recent reports have stated that United are now looking at bringing in Southampton’s Director of Football, Jason Wilcox, in a role involved in reporting to a new Sporting Director.

That person is expected to be Dan Ashworth of Newcastle right now, but Wilcox would be an additional member of the team Ratcliffe and INEOS are aiming to build.

Wilcox joined Southampton at the start of the season from Manchester City, where he was Academy Director.

It has been reported that Berrada’s close relationship with Wilcox, who was previously the U18s coach at United’s rivals before his promotion in 2017, is something that attracts INEOS to the move.

Berrada would’ve likely provided a positive recommendation to the INEOS team on his former colleague, who played a major part in the development of the likes of Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Rico Lewis.

At United, Nick Cox is currently doing a brilliant job in his Academy Director role, but should the club prise Wilcox away from Southampton, it would seem that he would offer another important link to the academy through his experience in related roles, alongside any other responsibilities he is given.

INEOS and Ratcliffe, in particular, will know the importance of the academy at Old Trafford, and Berrada’s recommendation could provide another level of expertise to help that transition into the first team.