The candidates for Man Utd director of football role revealed by PP traders

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that a Director of Football might help Manchester United. 

Then again, football and direction are two things that are well off Ed Woodward’s radar.

So why haven’t they hired one? It’s a hard question to answer but maybe Woodward thinks he’s got things covered by himself.

I’ve done some digging on Woodward to have a closer look at his credentials. Okay fine, I got someone else to do the digging for me.

Anyway, Woodward studied physics at the University of Bristol, he is a qualified chartered accountant and his three employers before Manchester United were PricewaterhouseCoopers, Robert Fleming & Co and J.P. Morgan.

It’s not exactly Barca, Juve and Bayern. They’re not even football clubs!

Maybe Woodward is a secret agent dropped undercover by a rival team to ensure that United remain in mediocrity for years to come. Is that more or less ridiculous than employing a tax man to make football signings?

Michael Edwards at Liverpool and Txiki Begiristain at Manchester City prove that the theory does work in Premier League practice, but that hasn’t pushed United into action just yet.

But if that was to change who could get the job?

Antero Henrique is the current favourite at 3/10 to be the next United Director of Football. Who the hell is he I hear you ask? (Okay, I asked my digger that too).

So Henrique is the transfer guru behind the deals to bring Neymar and Kylian Mbappe to Paris Saint-Germain, but is now out of a job after leaving the French club in 2017. Either of those players would do at United.

Luis Campos is next at 11/4, currently Director of Football for Lille and I’m reliably informed he was the man at Monaco who uncovered the likes of Mbappe, James Rodriguez and Bernardo Silva. Not bad, fella.

Next in line is RB Leipzig head of recruitment Paul Mitchell at 4/1, who made his name behind the scenes at Southampton and Tottenham with Mauricio Pochettino. Could they pair up at United?

David Gill to make a surprise return is a 6/1 shot, while former goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar is priced at 10/1.

Mike Phelan to make the move upstairs is 14/1 – if that brings back his funny tweets I’d be all for it.

Ed Woodward could just appoint himself for the role, which is a 33/1 shot. Stranger things have happened…

Next Man Utd Director of Football – the full rundown of candidates

Angelo Henrique 3/10

Luis Campos 11/4

Paul Mitchell 4/1

David Gill 6/1

John Murtagh 9/1

Edwin Van der Sar 10/1

Ralf Rangnick 10/1

Mike Phelan 14/1

Darren Fletcher 14/1

Stuart Webber 14/1

Gary Neville 16/1

Marcel Bout 20/1

Juninho Pernambucano 20/1

Rio Ferdinand 25/1

Ed Woodward 33/1

Fabio Paratici 33/1

Andrea Berta 33/1

Giuseppe Marotta 33/1

Jordi Cruyff 40/1

Michael Zorc 40/1

Marcel Brands 40/1

Eric Cantona 50/1

Patrice Evra 66/1

Les Reed 66/1

Peter Schmeichel 66/1

Nicola Cortese 66/1

Roy Keane 80/1

Paul Scholes 100/1

Santan Dave 500/1

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