Manchester United are set to sanction a bizarre January transfer addition who will not play a single minute for the club.
The Red Devils have been heavily criticised for their incomings in recent windows with Erik ten Hag allowed to spend over £200 million on new players last summer. He was subsequently sacked just three months into the new campaign.
Since then, new head coach Ruben Amorim has been tasked with galvanising the group but has very much been left to fit square pegs in round holes and the plot has now thickened even further at Old Trafford.
78-year-old running coach Harry Marra joins Manchester United on a 'consultancy basis'
According to new information relayed via The Athletic, Harry Marra, a 78-year-old American track coach will help the club's players cover ground on the pitch efficiently and repeatedly.
Marra, who graduated from Syracuse University in 1974 with a master’s degree in physical education and exercise science, is best known for coaching USA decathlete Ashton Eaton to gold at the Olympics in London in 2012 and also at Rio in 2016.
Amorim has stated already that teams need to run like 'mad dogs' as highlighted before his side's 3-2 loss to Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford in December.
“If not, we are not going to do it (win), that is clear," said the 40-year-old. "It’s impossible to win the Premier League without a team that, every moment, runs back, runs forward. Even with the best starting XI, without running, they will not win anything”.
“It was not me, it was the club,” said Amorim of the appointment of Marra. “We are always trying to bring experienced people to share knowledge with the staff, to understand the body, to understand how you can improve our players.
"It was not me, it was not something new. He’s not there to coach the team, he’s there to coach the staff about everything about the running, et cetera. It’s a simple thing that we are used to doing to improve as a club.”
Former Manchester United winger Anthony Elanga is cited in the report, given his explosive sprinting techniques. The Nottingham Forest winger is one of the quickest players off the mark but the Red Devils do still have natural speedsters at the club in Marcus Rashford, Amad and Alejandro Garancho.
Manchester United feel that the hardest part of stepping up to the senior, Premier League level is the physical demands (more than the technical/tactical ones) and subsequent injury risks. Ten Hag and Amorim have both seen first-hand how injuries have affected the team in recent years.
So what will Marra do at Manchester United?
Marra is set to work closely with Manchester United's interim performance director Sam Erith. His focus will be on honing the players' running techniques to suit Amorim's high demands, of a pressing game that will hopefully increase output on the pitch.
Marra speaking on his expertise on YouTube channel Chasing The Standard said: “The most important thing a coach should focus on … are the fundamentals. Those are the things I try to stress. It all starts on the initial movement on the part of the skill. If it’s incorrect, then there’s a problem.”
