Former England defender, Rio Ferdinand, has hinted that he is interested in negotiating and assuming the role of Sporting Director at Manchester United.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been calling the shots in United’s transfer transactions, and the club will have a Sporting Director portfolio for the first time in order to give manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a vital support.
Ex-Manchester United defender Ferdinand is one of the candidates being considered for appointment to take up the role. He is currently a television pundit and Euro 2020 ambassador.
Sporting Director, being a new office at Manchester United, Ferdinand says he wants to understand the details of the job description before accepting the offer.
“It all depends on the shape of the job. I don’t think it’s all been outlined at Manchester United in terms of: that’s the job and this is the description. I think there’s a lot to talk about within that,” Ferdinand stated.
“To be fair to Manchester United, in that kind of role, the responsibility that comes with that, you can’t lie and say that’s not a turn-on. Because you’re helping to shape the fortunes of a club of that stature. That’s a huge job.
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“I think decisions made at a football club – not all, some of them – should come with a football thought process in the background somewhere, that understands that side of it and can make that kind of decision.
Ferdinand added: Manchester United are looking for their ideology still. They went away from it after Sir Alex Ferguson. They tried to take it on under different managers and it didn’t work, so they are still searching.
“They need to lock down a philosophy, an ideology, but it’s not just the first team. It needs to be across the club, with younger players and the foundations, all the way through. There needs to be some sort of story at a football club for the stars and staff to believe in.
“Liverpool have got that, Jurgen Klopp has created that. Manchester City have got that – Pep (Guardiola) has created that. But they have been allowed to create it. They have had time.
“Do I think Man United can do that? I think time will tell. Ole has a window to work in and then he has to put that jigsaw in place. It is a big gap between Man City, Liverpool and Spurs. They will build again, they will recruit again.
“Man United always used to compete from the front – from a financial position and from a trophy position, winning. So if you approached a player you didn’t have to talk about money – we were winning the league every year.”
