Welcome to Manchester. As a signifier, the appointment of Omar Berrada as the new chief executive of Manchester United could not be more bold, a ram raid on the best run operation in football.
In terms of the optics it evokes the reverse journey made by Carlos Tevez in 2009, which, like this, expressed Manchester City’s intention to put the necessary pieces in place to challenge United’s global brand.
Back then City were just nine months into their new world under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi royal family. United were dithering over the wage demands of Tevez. City, under no such constraints, bowled in and signed him for a fee reported to be a record £47m. The Welcome to Manchester poster that appeared in the city centre on Deansgate was both a show of strength and a mocking gesture that threatened United’s hegemony.
Within three years City had claimed a first league championship for 44 years. Berrada was the first element in 2011 of City’s early infrastructure swoop on Barcelona that also brought the following year sporting director Txiki Begiristain and CEO Ferran Soriano to the Etihad. If you want to short cut the process, recruit from the best. Under the new joint-ownership of Sir Jim Ratcliffe, United would appear to be following suit.
“It is our stated ambition to re-establish Manchester United as a title-winning club,” read the statement announcing Berrada’s appointment. “The club is determined to put football and performance on the pitch back at the heart of everything we do. Omar’s appointment represents the first step on this journey.”
United have been without a league title for 11 years, a period in which City have added six. Berrada transformed City’s commercial operation and became the club’s chief operating officer in 2016. He was instrumental with Begiristain in the deal that brought Erling Haaland from Dortmund to City. He brings with him experience of a football operation that has come to dominate the world.
City responded diplomatically to the announcement. As they might. It means more for United to get Berrada than it does for City to lose one cog from a brilliantly oiled machine. It’s clearly a smart move by Ratcliffe and dramatic too, answering the demand from fans for signs of life at a club that has drifted ever further from the centre of things since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement a decade ago.
The idea that the Ratcliffe regime might be restrained during the period of ratification of his £1.3bn buy-in announced on Christmas Eve has been torched by Berrada’s appointment. Though he will not take up his post until the summer, the impact is already being felt in the message it sends.
Former Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus chief executive Jean Claude Blanc, who overseas the Ineos group’s sporting portfolio, was thought to be the man to replace former CEO Richard Arnold, who left in October. Berrada is a power move that brings United intimate details of City’s back-office template covering a range of key areas, including sports science, data analytics, scouting and player transactions. It also demonstrates United’s urgency to reverse years of decline.
United’s search for a sporting director continues. That they have been able to claim a key figure at the heart of City’s empire suggests Dan Ashworth might not be safe at Newcastle despite assurances from the club that their highly-regarded strategist is not for moving. United have not failed for lack of money, despite the hundreds of millions drained from the vaults by the Glazer ownership to meet interest payments on the debts they incurred to take control of the club in 2005.
It is the failure to spend wisely, itself a symptom of a football infrastructure unfit for purpose, that has cost them. United buy big and sell small. The talent identification is poor. They make too many inefficient buys, old players past their peaks on big contracts. From Tevez, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany all the way through to Haaland, Manuel Akanji and Jeremy Doku, City have rarely missed a step.
United on the other hand have re-hired an ageing Cristiano Ronaldo, indulged the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Alexis Sanchez, Edinson Cavani, Rafael Varane and Casemiro, players who had given their premium years at rival clubs and arrived at Old Trafford as memories.
Berrada is only one man, but the significance of a dozen years of sage experience in the high-performing environment across the city is worth 10 to United. As such the value of is appointment cannot be overstated.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/zM7LADl
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