The Manchester United Club Thread **Sponsored by Comedy Central**

Haven't read it first hand but seen someone post some details on reddit of an Athletic article showing just how badly the previous structure let down the scouts
  • Moises Caicedo was closely monitored by Manchester United's scouting team in South America by January 2021. United saw his $2 million release clause at Independiente del Valle as manageable and planned to sign him as a developmental player. Negotiations became complicated due to multiple agents, with one presenting a version of his contract with a $4 million release clause. United decided to back away from the deal, focusing resources elsewhere. Caicedo joined Brighton in that winter window and later moved to Chelsea for a British record fee of £115 million.
  • United identified Pedro Neto in early 2017, then a young talent in Braga’s youth setup, and invited him to their Carrington training base. Recruitment staff pushed for his signing, which would have only required a nominal training compensation. However, the decision-makers delayed offering a contract. During this period, Neto re-signed with Braga and later joined Lazio on a two-year loan with an obligation to buy.
  • In March 2018, Manchester United were offered a trial with 15-year-old Jamal Musiala, who was leaving Chelsea. Youth scout Andreas Herrmann and recruitment staff were impressed with Musiala’s performances. However, complications with the deal and concerns about regulations led United to consider the trial too risky, ultimately deciding not to pursue it.
  • In 2018, Manchester United learned that Red Bull Salzburg had offered €2 million for Slovenian striker Benjamin Sesko from Domzale. United's bids increased incrementally from €1 million to €1.2 million, but this wasn't enough to compete with Salzburg. Sesko joined Salzburg and later moved to RB Leipzig. United's recruitment strategy at the time involved spreading risk over multiple players, like signing Dillon Hoogewerf for €130,000. United remains linked with Sesko, who may join at a higher fee in the future.
  • United committed €10 million for Hannibal Mejbri in 2020, despite him being available for free a year earlier. Hannibal impressed during trials at Carrington in the 2017-18 season. Lack of timely action led Hannibal to sign with Monaco before joining United’s academy the next year.
  • In 2020, Manchester United agreed on a €250,000 deal with Celta Vigo for Stefan Bajcetic. Negotiations manager Sam Barnett tried to reduce costs by asking if Bajcetic could leave Vigo for a €100,000 training compensation. Bajcetic’s father, a former Vigo player and employee, said it wasn't possible. Bajcetic joined Liverpool that December for €250,000 and now plays as a defensive midfielder.
Just rank incompetence
 
Raymond Lin said:
They sure do give up easily...." complicated due to multiple agents"...backs away. "concerns about regulations"...backs away.
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"I don't work on Friday afternoons" back away.

To be fair, hindsight is a wonderful thing and the only one there that was probably a big miss is Musiala but as with all player development, would they have had the same chances at United. There is little doubt we have been a clown show however.
 
Every club under the sun tries to negotiate or doesnt think the fee for a young player is realistic, I remember when Liverpool didn't sign Ronaldo as they were dithering over a 5mill fee (or something similar) an then he ends up at your lot for 12m a week or 2 later.
 
Good to see the new footballing structure is in place. Hopefully this will transform the club, they've certainly been radical.

  • Owners: Jim Ratcliffe & The Glazers

  • Directors: Dave Brailsford & Jean-Claude Blanc

  • CEO: Omar Berrada

  • Sporting Director: Dan Ashworth

  • Technical Director: Jason Wilcox

  • Head of Recruitment: Christopher Vivell (temporary for the next 2 windows)
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And we also have two new assistants/coaches for Ten Hag, Rene Hake and Van Nistelrooy.

Redundancies also being made now, a shame for those losing their jobs.

Manchester United today told staff that the club is intending to cut 250 jobs as new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe continues his bid to slash costs at Old Trafford.

Interim chief executive Jean-Claude Blanc informed staff on Wednesday lunchtime that the club intends to make a wave of redundancies, with new co-owner INEOS pursuing a series of cost-cutting measures recommended by consultancy firm Interpath Advisory, who have been hired to review the club’s business and operational outgoings.
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last time i read Man Utd have over 1000 employees, compared to Man City who have 700, thats a lot of bloat....still sad to hear people will be losing their jobs but the club has been mismanaged and efficiencies are clearly there to be had.
 
Benofacter said:
last time i read Man Utd have over 1000 employees, compared to Man City who have 700, thats a lot of bloat....still sad to hear people will be losing their jobs but the club has been mismanaged and efficiencies are clearly there to be had.
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United are a much, much bigger club though so to a point it makes sense but I do imagine there’s a lot of bloat.

I wonder what kind of level the bloat is at. It’s rare for something like a transactional processing team to be full as usually managers try and just work employees into the ground!
 
from what im hearing, a lot of these redundancies will be concentrated on back office support departments such as marketing, know a few people already that have been cut from the workforce.
 
I understand the needs to cut costs and be streamlined.

Why doesn't this extend to cutting losses with players? How many Antonys (£80m + £lol salary) worth of savings will this bring? How many VdBs?
 
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sigma said:
Is not cancelling/buying out the contract going to cost us more in the long run? I know it's not the done thing in football. Wishful thinking but one has to be bold.
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Depends on the player, but yes generally buying out a contract costs a fortune. Sometimes you'll manage to come to an agreement but it'll still cost serious money.
 
New contract for ETH, notably only until June 2026, so not a long extension. Rightly so.

www.manutd.com

Erik ten Hag extends Manchester United contract

Erik and sporting director Dan Ashworth discuss the manager's new deal.
www.manutd.com www.manutd.com

Good to see Ashworth commenting publicly too.

Dan Ashworth, Manchester United sporting director, said: “With two trophies in the past two seasons, Erik has reinforced his record as one of the most consistently successful coaches in European football.

"While the club’s review of last season highlighted areas for improvement, it also reached a clear conclusion that Erik was the best partner for us to work with in driving up standards and outcomes.

"This group of players and staff have already shown they are capable of competing and winning at the top level; now we need to do it more consistently.

"With our strengthened football leadership team now in place, we are looking forward to working hand-in-hand with Erik to achieve our shared ambitions for this football club.”
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Honestly, INEOS are really impressing me so far. The hierarchy we have in place now, is absolutely brilliant, they've already started work on the stadium, albeit small jobs but much needed. The training facility upgrades. The redundancies, as horrible as it is for those involved, is well overdue by the sounds of it thanks to the Glazers just letting people do a whole lot of nothing in areas we didn't need

Long may it continue, but I feel positive about things for the first time in a while
 
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