Manchester United are willing to let a Champions League winner leave the club in the next few months.
In the 11 years since Sir Alex Ferguson departed Manchester United, Sir Jim Ratcliffe believes that the club has perennially underperformed. For the new minority shareholder, plenty of mistakes have been made that need fixing.
As a result, changes are afoot at Old Trafford, with players and staff alike all at risk of being forced out.
According to Manchester Evening News, Darren Fletcher is set to depart Manchester United as Sir Jim Ratcliffe restructures the technical department at the club. Fletcher, who is currently the club's technical director, spent 13 years at Manchester United in his playing career, winning the Champions League and five Premier League titles.
After moving onto West Brom and then Stoke, where he retired in 2019, Fletcher then returned to Manchester United in 2021 as technical director and has been in that role ever since.
But with Ratcliffe's 25 per cent stake in the Red Devils now ratified by both the FA and Premier League, significant changes are already being made at the club. Omar Berrada has already been hired as CEO from Manchester City, while other non-playing staff arrivals are also expected.
Manchester United are hoping to appoint Dan Ashworth as the new sporting director from Newcastle United, while Southampton's director of football, Jason Wilcox, is also being lined up to arrive at Old Trafford.
The report also suggests that along with Fletcher, the club's director of football negotiations, Chris Hargreaves, is set to depart as part of the restructuring. This is all part of Ratcliffe's plans to knock Manchester City and Liverpool "off their perch" within the next three years.
“We have a lot to learn from our noisy neighbour and the other neighbour,” Ratcliffe said. “They are the enemy at the end of the day. There is nothing I would like better than to knock both of them off their perch."
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