Omar Berrada’s transfer to Manchester United, according to pundit Micah Richards, is a “massive blow” for Manchester City.

Given that Erik ten Hag’s team is off this weekend, United supporters may have been anticipating a quiet one.

But United had other ideas, and on Saturday night they made a big announcement about Omar Berrada joining the team.

Berrada will take over as United’s new chief executive after holding the position of chief football operations officer for Manchester City.

With Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos making their first significant move by acquiring Berrada, this appears to be a massive move for United and a severe loss for City as well.

In response to Omar Berrada switching from Manchester City to Manchester United, Micah Richards

The news has stunned many in the game, with Berrada now giving up a key role in the City project to make the move across Manchester.

Former City defender Micah Richards has now offered his view whilst speaking on the latest episode of The Rest is Football.

Richards noted that he knows Berrada ‘very well’ and finds him to be ‘incredibly articulate’, believing that he has played a key role in negotiating deals and managing scouts at City.

Richards added that Berrada is ‘inspirational’ in the way he talks about the game and his knowledge of the transfer market.

The pundit repeated a regular Gary Neville phrase in terms of Berrada being ‘best in class’, believing that his decision to leave City for United is a ‘massive blow’.

“I know him, I know him very well,” said Richards. “A really nice guy, he is incredibly articulate, he’s got a plan… so how it works at Man City, you’ll have Khaldoon, who is chairman/owner, then you’ll have Ferran, who takes care of not just Man City but all the City Group, so he’s like the front man, CEO, any speeches or any direction. Then you’ll have Txiki, who is the football side. Really great guy, he’s just football operations, so he’s the one who gets the players and Omar worked alongside him and Brian Marwood in terms of negotiating the deals, dealing with the scouts and all that sort of thing.”

“I’ve listened to him talk and he’s so inspirational, the way he knows the game, the way he knows the market and Gary Neville says it a lot but ‘best in class’ in terms of getting every department to run the best it possibly can be. It’s not just his voice, he’s happy to take opinions from other people, put them all together and help build all the way from the ground up. To see him go to Man Utd is a massive blow.”

“It definitely was a shock but, by all accounts, it was done amicably and they wish him well but it just shows you how far Man City have come in terms of organisation and how they run, how all the big clubs around the world now are trying to poach their staff, so it says a lot about him and a lot about the way Man City are doing things,” he added.

Berrada’s move has been confirmed but United’s statement didn’t confirm exactly when he can start the job.

United’s statement reads ‘Omar’s start date will be confirmed in due course’, and reports indicate that it would be quite the wait.

TalkSPORT suggest that Berrada can’t start work at United at least until the end of the season whilst Ben Jacobs indicated that it may even be next when when Berrada starts.

United have their man though, and whilst it would be ideal to get him started as soon as possible, this is a long-term project and Ineos will be delighted to have secured his services.