Sir Dave Brailsford, Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth, and Jason Wilcox won’t be players on the pitch for Manchester United this season.
Nevertheless, this group will play a crucial role in shaping the 2024-25 season for the club and Ten Hag.
In many ways, they are tasked with addressing some core issues and a legacy of subpar recruitment.
While they weren’t responsible for signing Casemiro, they must navigate the financial repercussions of his substantial salary for the next two years, especially considering his recent lackluster performances, such as the moment when Fabio Carvalho slipped past him during Liverpool’s first goal on Saturday.
A strained Profit and Sustainability situation stems from inadequate checks and balances in the past, which allowed for the kind of overspending that led to a £81.3m deal for Brazilian winger Antony from Ajax two years ago, a fee likely much higher than his actual worth.
It’s unfortunate for Leny Yoro to sustain a significant injury just two weeks after his £52m transfer from Lille, but at the age of 18, he was not going to be the sole solution.
United urgently needs to acquire another central defender. However, achieving this requires selling Victor Lindelof, and possibly Harry Maguire, which poses its own challenges.
The same situation applies to the right-back position, where Aaron Wan-Bissaka could be replaced by Bayern Munich’s Noussair Mazraoui.
The overarching issue at United is that there are numerous players across the squad who are on hefty contracts, making it difficult to offload them elsewhere, and their performances have not justified their wages.
If you ask any manager what the key to success is, regardless of the level, the answer will inevitably point to recruitment.
United’s new governance structure includes board members backed by Ineos as well as a new chief executive, sporting director, and technical director.
It is their joint responsibility to prevent the errors of the past from being repeated.
