When it comes to Manchester United and getting things back on track, there’s one thing most agree on; they need to hire a Director of Football.
It’s long been felt that placing someone above the manager, and crucially between him and Ed Woodward, could go a long way to rectifying the problems at Old Trafford and resetting their course.
The issue has been discussed for several years, with big names, mostly former players such as Edwin van der Sar, and even Rio Ferdinand having been mooted as contenders for the position.
One name sometimes heard is that of Andrea Berta, and according to MARCA, Manchester United are more than keen on the Italian.
They report on the Atletico chief today and explain how Serie A side Roma have him in their sights as they look to find a long-term appointee for a role that has had ‘several tenants’ in recent years.
The newspaper labels Berta as ‘one of the most sought-after sports directors’ and reveal how several clubs in Europe, Inter Milan and AC Milan are explicitly named, have tried to tempt him away from the Wanda Metropolitano in the past.
Among those to have tried to do so are Manchester United, who, it is claimed, have tried ‘several times to take over his service without success’.
Now it’s not made clear when these efforts were made, although given Berta only took over the role at Atletico in 2017 it was surely in that time frame, or why he turned Manchester United down, just that they’ve made several attempts and failed each time.
With things hitting the buffers again recently, perhaps now is the time to try again, although if they were to they’d be facing competition from Roma this time around.
