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Manchester United have for a while been deliberating over hiring their director of football Jason Wilcox; United want to make the former Blackburn winger their technical director as part of the new recruitment team.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been hell-bent on rebuilding United’s structure from the ground up and this particular mission has received a massive boost as Wilcox has sensationally resigned from his role at Southampton.
Reports had it that Southampton were reluctant to do business with Man Utd and as Fabrizio Romano confirms on his social media handles, Wilcox has duly resigned from his role with The Saints to force a move.
Negotiations had reached an impasse, with Southampton playing hard ball until proper compensation was agreed upon.
This is a huge statement of intent on his part and a proper exhibition of the amount of pull Manchester United still hold, with executives and players still attracted to the club despite on and off-field struggles.
This is after Sir Jim Ratcliffe miraculously nabbed highly-rated CEO Omar Berrada from rivals Man City, and negotiations are still ongoing for Newcastle executive Dan Ashworth.
The position of technical director is currently held by former Untied midfielder Darren Fletcher, albeit Wilcox’s exact role will be a tad different as Fletcher sometimes doubles as a first team coach.
He brings with him a ton of experience on the recruitment and executive structure side.
He was the key part of Manchester City’s restructuring project of their academy, which has turned into a cash cow as well as provided key players for the first team.
At Southampton, he laid out a clear vision for the club, which has The Saints on track for an immediate promotion back to the Premier League.
After Wilcox and Berrada, INEOS now will fully focus on sealing the deal with Dan Ashworth.
All in all, this summer looks like it is going to be era-defining considering all the top executives Sir Jim is hiring to lead the club into a new era.
