Freedman tipped for United job
CRYSTAL PALACE sporting director Dougie Freedman is in the frame to join Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £1.4billion revolution at Manchester United.
The former Scotland striker, 49, who had managerial spells at Palace, Bolton and Nottingham Forest, has been in charge of the south Londoners’ recruitment since 2017.
And his work there has caught the eye of Ratcliffe and, in particular, Sir David Brailsford (below), the former Team GB cycling supremo assisting the proposed overhaul of the Reds’ transfer and scouting department.
An announcement on Ratcliffe’s drawn-out purchase of a 25 percent stake in the club is expected in the next week.
The billionaire British investor is promising an immediate end to the chaotic transfer policy at Old Trafford.
Reds technical director John Murtough and football director Darren Fletcher look set to pay the price for costly mistakes. United have blown more than £1bn in the last three years with little obvious improvement.
Ratcliffe has drawn up a short-list of replacements – with ex-southampton chief Paul Mitchell the early favourite. Former Liverpool pair Michael Edwards and Julian Ward are also possibilities.
However, Brailsford is pushing for Freedman to be involved.
The reputation of the Selhurst Park transfer supremo has soared following the signings of Marc Guehi, Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise.
Chelsea academy defender Guehi and winger Eze, a £17million buy from QPR, have broken into the England set-up.
And French Under-21 ace Olise, who signed a new deal at the club last week, looks a bargain, having cost £8.5m from Reading in 2021.