The role of a sporting director can neither be underemphasized nor overemphasized. The role plays an integral part of a club’s breakthrough in the transfer aspect. For some clubs, technocrats are being hired to manage that aspect while in some other clubs, their legends are the ones holding the important position.
For Manchester United, it’s neither technocrats nor ex-players that’s handling the position and as a result, has been the impediment of the club’s success in the transfer market. During the era of Sir Alex Ferguson, this post was not a problem for United mainly because of the Scot meticulous with the kind of players at his disposal.
Albeit, not all the players that were at the club flourished under Sir Alex, but some signings were spot on and made a name at the Manchester club. But after the retirement of Ferguson, the club suddenly began to suffer retrogression as regards transfer due to the apparent dearth of sporting director. 2013 till now, the club hasn’t been able to make an impact in the transfer market like it did when the Scot was at the helm. Why? – due to the lack of a sporting director.
Many players have come and gone at the club thereafter and sincerely, only a few have flourished at United due to lack of proper scouting of these players, proper screening for them and the club’s inability to check whether these players will fit into the philosophy of the club. This has no doubt made many fans lost hope in the transfer cases of the Red Devils when players like Sanchez failed to thrive at the club, meaning that the glory days for United are over and they’re left with gorry days.
The gorry days now seem to be coming to an end, as some technocrats are on the verge of becoming the sporting director of Manchester United. Having seen the position as not solely about recruitment alone, the club now sees the position as part of the prerequisites for long-term success.
Two reputable figures (Antero Henrique) and (Ralf Rangnick). These two have become renowned sporting directors due to their ability to discover talents and woo them to their clubs. Antero Henrique 51, recently left Paris Saint Germain last summer after spending two seasons with the French Champions was picked by the club’s Asian owners to manage a transformative period in which during his stint, the club was able to sign Kylian Mbappe from Monaco, Dani Alves from Juve and Neymar from Barcelona.
Before that time, Henrique had spent 26 years at Porto, he began at the administrative department of the Portuguese club in 1990, moved to become the club’s sports director in 2005 and rose to the position of the Vice President and Chief Executive of the club in 2010.
During that time, he ensured that he established personal relationships with top European clubs and agents which made him an X-factor in some juicy deals between clubs, players and agents. Some of the lucrative deals he helped brokered were Anderson‘s move to United, Jose Bosingwa to Chelsea, Radamel Falcao to Atletico Madrid and other couples of players.
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Meanwhile, Ralf Rangnick is another big fish that swims in the big pond of European football with some amazing players. Ralf has been a manager before becoming a sporting director. The popularity of RB Leipzig in Germany and the success recorded by RB Salzburg in Austria was proudly masterminded by Ralf – little wonder he’s been tagged as the pioneer of modern German football.
He began as the sporting director for both Salzburg and Leipzig in 2012 before shifting all of his attention to the German outfit three years later. Rangnick just like Antero has a remarkable record of identifying and developing young talented players, which includes Liverpool’s quartet of Sadio Mane, Naby Keita, Firmino and Joel Matip, as well as the Reds’ summer transfer target Timo Werner.
Rangnick seems to be loved by some top figures at United and may likely become the eventual occupant of the coveted position at united. Although, the German who now heads the sports department of Red Bull Salzburg has professed his desire to be in the English Premier League.
Should any of these two become the Sporting Director, Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Matt Judge will both remain integral parts of the process of bringing new players to United. Fingers crossed!
Featured Image Source: Dailymail.co.uk
