Manchester United opened their season in an unusually similar fashion to the way they did 12 months ago. A win at Old Trafford against Leicester City happened in August 2018 as it did in August 2017 and now the focus is shifting towards the match number two. However, the media in England are speculating about something else.
Now that the transfer window is closed, the only speculation regarding transfers is whether Barcelona will truly continue to pursue Paul Pogba. And while we will have to wait for January to see that, a speculation regarding the position director of football at Manchester United is brought up to surface once again.
The Guardian and several other media outlets talk about Ed Woodward and the boardroom looking to add a director of football.
“United will try to modernise their approach to recruitment by bringing in a Director of Football to bridge the gap between manager and board. Ed Woodward will still have a key role following the appointment, while Mourinho – and any successor – will be involved in the process”, Metro report.
This means that a new position could be added soon enough and here we will be looking why that is a necessary thing for Man United to progress.
Clear Long-Term Strategy
When you have a director of football working with the current manager, scouts and the board, you can set a clear long-term strategy. The director of football would be the one looking for players to bring in that could fit the team, not only in the short term, but also for many years to come. Just look at what Monchi has done at a club like Sevilla, winning five Europa Leagues with the club that was in Spanish Second division when he took over.
Man United have lacked a clear vision of what they want to do ever since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
Less Reliability On The Manager
The second thing is that the club is not going to be too reliant on what are managers wishes. We have seen what happened when Louis Van Gaal was given a chance to bring in all the players he wanted. Mateo Darmian, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo are good players but not exactly at the level necessary for Manchester United.
With a director of football, the manager would still have a say, but he would not be in charge. He would be a mixture of the manager and head coach as the club would be looking to limit what a manager could do at the club.
Football Is Changing, Man United Need To Change Too
That may sound harsh, but it is what is needed. The football is changing and Man United are most probably not going to find another Sir Alex and have someone to lead the team for over 20 years. Sackings are happening more often and often. Therefore, if every manager could bring in whichever players he wanted, the next one would want to do the same. That is not sustainable. Director of football would bring stability to Manchester United and we would probably not see a chaotic transfer window like the one the club had this summer.