John Murtough is set to follow Richard Arnold out of Manchester United as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Old Trafford revolution.
Chief executive Arnold was axed by Ratcliffe, who is set to own 25 percent of United once his £1.3billion purchase is ratified by the club’s board.
Football director Murtough looks set to be the next high-profile casualty at United, with Ratcliffe having decided to get ruthless with the club’s under-performing hierarchy. INEOS chief Ratcliffe is undertaking a complete overhaul of the football side at United, focusing in particular on the club’s poor recruitment in the decade since Sir Alex Ferguson stepped down.
United have spent £1.4bn on players since Ferguson retired, but only have the FA Cup, two League Cups and the Europa League to show for that huge financial outlay on mediocre signings.
In contrast, during that same spell, local rivals Manchester City have won six Premier League titles, six League Cups, two FA Cups, the Champions League and the Club World Cup.
Ratcliffe is planning to install his own team on the football operations side at United, with former British cycling chief Sir Dave Brailsford set to play a key role within the new set-up. The favourite to succeed Arnold is former Juventus and Paris St Germain executive Jean-Claude Blanc, while Paul Mitchell and Dougie Freedman are among the names in the frame to replace Murtough.
Since Murtough was appointed to his role, United have missed out on world-class players like City striker Erling Haaland, England captain Harry Kane and Three Lions midfielder Declan Rice.
United were not in the race when City signed Haaland from Borussia Dortmund and it was a similar story when Kane left Spurs for Bayern Munich and Rice swapped West Ham for Arsenal. Ratcliffe wants to know how United missed out on signing such world-class talents and why they have wasted so much money on players who are simply not good enough.
United have lost nine of their 18 games in all competitions this season and are bottom of their Champions League group with three defeats from their opening four games.