Ratcliffe plans major Man Utd changes with decision made on Ten Hag future

16 October 2023 , 21:30

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Ratcliffe plans major Man Utd changes with decision made on Ten Hag future

Manchester United are braced for major changes when Sir Jim Ratcliffe completes his £1.4billion deal for 25 percent of the club.

Ratcliffe will have control of the football side at United with his stake, which raises questions over the futures of Football Director John Murtough and Darren Fletcher, the club’s Technical Director. The position of United boss Erik ten Hag is not under threat, despite the side's poor start to the season, but it is behind the scenes where the biggest changes could come with Ratcliffe's arrival.

When Ratcliffe and his team were shown around United back in March and given access to the club's football operations, they were said to have been impressed with what they saw. As well as the football side, Ratcliffe and his representatives were also given insight into United's commercial, ticketing and marketing operations, as part of the bidding process.

Despite Ratcliffe and his team making positive noises on their tour of United, sources close to the 70-year-old billionaire INEOS chief say he is keen to overhaul the football side of the club. There is a belief Ratcliffe will set out to restructure United's football department, in particular the recruitment side, which has under-performed in the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down.

That could mean a new Sporting Director role, with Paul Mitchell, who held those roles at Tottenham, Southampton, RB Leipzig and Monaco one of the major contenders for the position. Mitchell has established a formidable reputation at building successful management structures at clubs and has a decent track record in recruitment, which makes him a candidate for United.

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At Saints, Mitchell signed the likes of Sadio Mane and Dusan Tadic, while at Spurs he recruited Son Heung-Min, Kieran Trippier and Dele Alli. At RB Leipzig, he was Chief Technical Director overseeing all of the Red Bull teams, where his signings included Dani Olmo, Christopher Nkunku and Dayot Upamecano.

Ten Hag's position as Manchester United boss will be safe under Ratcliffe (Ash Donelon/Manchester United FC)

Hailing from Manchester, Mitchell has moved back to the north-west after leaving his role at Monaco earlier this month and is said to be ready to take on a new challenge. That would spell trouble for Murtough and, potentially, ex-United midfielder Fletcher, who has a key role within the football set-up, working closely with Ten Hag, his staff and the first-team squad.

David McDonnell