It is very familiar that Manchester United is one of the greatest clubs in Europe. But, that's not the case ever since their legendary manager stood aside from the managerial seat. Since then they have splashed money extravagantly on players alone. They spent so much that their net spending hit billions for the past decade. It must be very hard for Manchester United fans to take because their "noisy neighbour" has spent a lesser amount yet is close to Manchester United and has achieved the zenith of success.
It is clear that the problem is not with the managers, it is not with the players, the problem arises from the up top. The board, the recruitment department, the scouts, the negotiations and everything related to selling or buying a player. They are known to buy star players hoping for the immediate solution but the players never stood up to the task they were sent out to. Splashing 100m on Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and giving hefty wages and disturbing the wage structure with Alexis Sanchez, giving 350k per week contract for David de Gea and so on. The mistakes that have been made in terms of footballing are abundant.
Since the appointment of Ralf Ragnick, it feels like Ralf is not here to manage a team for an interim period and guide them to cross the line with their head held high or that's what his recent press conference has been. He is brutally telling the truth, telling the fans the actual state of the club and why the club is like that. He did not point fingers, but he doesn't have to because according to the fans most of the board members and the players are not good enough to carry their badges in their chests. Ralf is not looking to finish the season, he is outrightly looking for the future, the long term, the Manchester United way.
Ralf single-handedly fought with the entire board and the ex-player's favouritism towards Mauricio Pochettino and singed Erik Ten Hag as the next coach for United and he has signed a contract for 5 years. This clearly shows that he is in for long term success like Pep Guardiola. Now the next piece in the puzzle is a director of football, United has been linked with Paul Mitchell since the sacking of Jose Mourinho. He fits the modern cycle of bringing in the youth players, promoting from the academy and bringing profit to the club through the sales of players.
He was appointed in 2012 as Head of Recruitment and has seen them promote to the premier league. At his final window at St.Mary's, he earned them a £111m in transfers alone most of which were scouted by Mitchell. Following this, he was offered the technical director role at Spurs where he brought his former colleague Mauricio Pochettino and together they both made Spurs relevant. They made Spurs compete for the premiere league and thus become one of the top 6 clubs in the premier league.
In Tottenham, He brought in Dele Alli, Kieran Trippier, and Toby Alderwield and he also signed Son who is currently one of the top wingers in the league. He also had a say in the signing of Eriksen and he saw the youth ranks and promoted Harry Kane to the first team, who is arguably one of the greatest strikers to embrace the premier league. Mitchell then joined the german club, RB Leipzig.
Using his extensive scouting network he brought in Timo Werner, Dani Olmo, and Emil Forsberg as they finished 2nd in the league in their "Debut" competition. Currently, the star players like Nkunku and Upamencano were his recruitment only. He has this desire to search for talent in the young players, bring and nurture them in the club and nurture them into the star players. United's strategy up and till now is the exact opposite of it and calling it as a long term projects.
By bringing in Mitchell, He will sign united the talents they need that too in the position that the manager wants. Erik has put a clause that he should have a say in the player signing, sales and contract extension. So with Erik and Mitchell working together and they will satisfy the greedy glazers as well. They don't have to worry about spending big on players affecting their dividend from Manchester United. It seems to be a win-win situation for both the fans and the owners if they manage to pull this off.
With Ralf now appointed as the Austrian Coach and his role at United is still a question mark. He still has publicly said that he will be a consultant to United as well. But, will he sign Paul Mitchell before he takes off to Austria or will United board bottle yet another crucial recruitment? Only time will tell.
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