8 months ago
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Crystal Palace sporting director, Dougie Freedman, is Manchester United’s first choice to become the club’s new head of recruitment.
The Red Devils have scoured the market for a figurehead to oversee their recruitment since Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s partial takeover of the club.
Michael Edwards and Danny Ward were both considered for the role after their work at Liverpool, while Paul Mitchell, who excelled at Southampton and Tottenham, was also of interest.
But the Independent say United have settled on Freedman and will make a move for him this week.
Freedman has excelled at Palace since becoming sporting director in 2017.
The former Scotland striker has overseen moves for the likes of Marc Guehi, Michael Olise and Eberezi Eze.
As well as astute, young signings, Freedman has overseen Palace’s scouting department and made the most of the talent in south-west London.
That’s produced the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Wilfried Zaha and Tyrick Mitchell in recent years.
United have lost ground to rivals Liverpool and Manchester City in recent years, though they have worked to close the gap at youth level.
Freedman would not have to serve such a lengthy notice period, as is the case with Omar Berrada and Dan Ashworth.
Freedman would report into Ashworth on the football side of things, while he’d operate under Berrada.
United have squandered almost £1.3bn since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013 and haven’t won a title since the Scot’s retirement.
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