Ajax’s new director of football not impressed with Manchester United’s facilities – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United are currently sixth in the Premier League and a top-four finish looks unlikely. They also exited Europe at the first time of asking while failing to defend their Carabao Cup crown by losing in the Round of 16.

The FA cup represents the best chance at returning to Europe next season but with Liverpool up next, the task seems to be cut out for manager Erik ten Hag, whose future continues to be on shaky ground.

INEOS, the new minority stakeholders, are expected to be ruthless as they seek to return the club back to the top and are eyeing a new manager while also fixing the structure at the club.

The Glazers have let the club rot since their leveraged buyout, not spending a penny to improve the infrastructure at Carrington or Old Trafford. The transfer system remains in tatters with no clear lines of communication at the club.

Not impressed with United

According to Algemeen Dagblad, as relayed by Sport Witness, Ajax’s new director of football Alex Kroes made a trip to Manchester and was less than impressed with what he saw behind-the-scenes.

The new Ajax chief is someone who is interested in bringing back Ten Hag to Amsterdam but “the chance that Ten Hag himself will return is small”.

The facilities and structure was termed as a “dated version of Ajax” and it was a lesson “in how things should not be done” at a professional football club.

Worse, Kroes also visited noisy neighbours Manchester City and was deeply impressed as the “organisational structure and direction are crystal clear”.

Since coming in, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has wasted little time in trying to fix the behind-the-scenes mess.

City miles ahead

A new CEO is set to join in the summer along with a sporting director with United trying to agree a compensation package with Newcastle for Dan Ashworth.

The club also plan to bring in a technical director and recruitment head and together they will implement a style of play going forward.

The British billionaire also plans to build a Wembley of the North where Old Trafford currently stands and a new task force  has been created to look into it.

While patience will be required to see the changes in effect, it is refreshing to see the new minority stakeholder get involved unlike the greedy American family.