Man Utd ‘set to’ land ‘major coup’ from Man City in ‘huge surprise’ that shows instant Ratcliffe ‘influence’

Manchester United are reportedly set to pull off the sensational appointment of Manchester City’s Omar Berrada as their new chief executive.

Berrada is one of the best in the business and has previously worked for Barcelona.

He is closing in on a shock switch to City’s arch-rivals, United, who have been searching for a new CEO to take over the role from Richard Arnold.

Arnold’s departure came with Sir Jim Ratcliffe acquiring a 25 per cent stake in the Red Devils and the British billionaire is closing in on a ‘major coup’ by landing the ‘highly regarded’ Berrada, as per The Athletic correspondent David Ornstein.

Ornstein says the man who has heavily influenced City’s massive success off and on the pitch will join United in what is seen as a ‘huge surprise’.

Having been tracking ‘a candidate with a proven track record in football’, the Red Devils will give Berrada ‘executive leadership’ of that and the business side of things.

Berrada will ‘sit on the board of directors and report to United’s fresh ownership set-up’, Ornstein says.

This is a ‘joint decision’ between Ratcliffe and the Glazers – who endorsed the appointment after Ineos ‘identified and pursued’ Berrada.

The appointment ‘underlines the influence of Ratcliffe’, especially as the ‘coup’ has been done ‘in a quick and discreet manner’.

City confirmed Berrada’s switch in a statement given to The Athletic.

“Manchester City can confirm Omar Berrada has resigned from his role as chief football operations officer at City Football Group,” the statement read.

“The club understands his decision to look for a new challenge and he leaves with our thanks and best wishes.”

After eight years at Barcelona as senior media business development manager and head of sponsorship, Berrada joined the Cityzens in 2011.

Having worked as commercial director for City Football Marketing, he was promoted to the CEO role five years after joining.

Berrada has worked very closely with City director of football Txiki Begiristain – pictured next to him above – during his time in the role.

Patrick Stewart – no, not the actor – has been acting chief executive for United since Arnold left the role.

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