Manchester United ‘will appoint their first ever director of football’ in the aftermath of Jose Mourinho’s frustrating summer transfer window.
Mourinho was vocal in his opinions on the club’s business over the summer, and it has been reported that United are now set to make huge changes behind the scenes.
According to the Guardian, once the current restructure of the club and expansion of facilities is complete, United will overhaul their transfer policy next.
The changes would allow for a more streamlined recruitment process in which the manager takes on a different role, lending itself to comments made by Mourinho on Friday night.
Ahead of his side’s Premier League opener, the Portuguese insisted he and his contemporaries should be called ‘head coaches’ as opposed to ‘managers’, a statement which now appears quite relevant.
‘I had my plans for many months and I find myself with the market closed in a situation I did not think I would be in,’ he said. ‘I think football is changing and managers should be called head coaches.’
Football nowadays sees managers move on very quickly, and it is understood United think it will be beneficial to create a more fluid recruitment process with a director of football at the forefront of that.
Mourinho’s relationship with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has become fractured, and the new plans at United would be an attempt to bridge the gap between them.
It is understood that Woodward would still have a key role in the buying and selling of players despite the new role, while Mourinho – or whoever is in charge at Old Trafford – would also be heavily involved.
United need only to look at their nearest rivals Manchester City for an example of how the director of football role can work successfully, with Txiki Begiristain widely regarded as a success at the Etihad.
His formal title is ‘sporting director’, and a fundamental part of his role is to identify new players and new managers – as he did with Pep Guardiola back in 2016.