Manchester United are searching for a new sporting director following the departure of Dan Ashworth after just five months in the job.
Ashworth’s exit was confirmed on Sunday, following a meeting with new chief executive Omar Berrada following Saturday’s 3-2 defeat to Nottingham Forest.
Here, Standard Sport assess the early contenders to replace Ashworth at Old Trafford.
Dougie Freedman
The bookmakers’ favourite for the job is a man many feel has proven himself to be one of the best sporting directors in the Premier League during his time at Crystal Palace.
The former Palace and Scotland striker returned to Selhurst Park as sporting director in 2017.
Under his guidance, Palace signed the likes of Michael Olise, Marc Guehi and Eberechi Eze as they spotted talent in the Championship and gave players a platform to shine in the top-flight.
Freedman was considered by Newcastle when Ashworth left for United in the summer.
Andrea Berta
Currently sporting director of Atletico Madrid, Italian Berta worked his way up as a sporting director from AC Carpenedolo in 2002 to Atletico via Parma and Genoa.
He originally joined Atletico as technical director but then became sporting director.
Berta has already announced plans to leave the Madrid club at the end of the season. Will his next adventure take him to Manchester?
Cristiano Giuntoli
Another Italian, Giuntoli is formerly sporting director of Carpi in the lower divisions. In his six seasons there they earned four promotions.
At Napoli, he gained a reputation for helping owner Aurelio De Laurentiis sell players at far above their true market value.
Napoli raised £75million through the sale of Gonzalo Higuain to Juventus, £33m for selling Khalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea and £21m by selling Allan to Everton.
He also spotted a gem in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, signing the Georgian from Dinamo Batumi for less than £8.3m. Giuntoli left Napoli last summer to take the same role at Juventus.
Lee Congerton
The former head of Chelsea’s scouting operations has also headed up recruitment teams at Sunderland, Celtic, Leicester City among others.
Congerton is now sporting director of Ivan Toney’s Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League, having previously worked in the same role at Atalanta, where he was responsible for signing Rasmus Hojlund for £16.6m and selling him on to the United for £72m.
Paolo Maldini
AC Milan’s record appearance-maker with 902 games to his name, Maldini is one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game.
He is the co-owner of Miami FC and was, until recently, Milan’s technical director.
After his sacking last summer, he became a candidate for sporting director of Newcastle a year later once it became clear Ashworth was heading to United.
Paul Mitchell
Mitchell was sporting director of Southampton during Mauricio Pochettino’s successful reign of the club, and he then followed the Argentine to Tottenham where he was involved in signing Dele Alli, Heung-min Son, Toby Alderweireld and others.
He was then head of recruitment at RB Leipzig, signing Matheus Cunha and Nordi Mukiele, before taking on the role at Newcastle in July 2024 following Ashworth’s exit.
Julian Ward
The former Liverpool sporting director left Anfield a year into his time there but was brought back last summer as technical director within the club’s Fenway Sports Group ownership remit.
He studied sports science at Liverpool John Moores University and was an analyst for the football associations of England and Portugal and for Manchester City and Liverpool before taking on the technical director role at Liverpool.
Ralf Rangnick
Currently manager of the Austrian national team, Rangnick once declared United needed “open heart surgery” to return to the top table of the world game during his spell as caretaker boss.
That was supposed to culminate with Rangnick being made sporting director of United, but that eventuality never came to fruition. Might it now?
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
From one former United manager to another, Solskjaer it an outside bet and at this time seen as very unlikely to replace Ashworth as the club’s full-time sporting director.
He has been working as a technical director for UEFA since his United dismissal, but would he be willing to return to the club in a completely different capacity, having previously been manager?
