Manchester United “progressing” in deal to land Southampton director of football Jason Wilcox – Man United News And Transfer News

1

Manchester United are progressing in their efforts to land Jason Wilcox as a key part of their recruitment team.

Since INEOS took over the reins of the football club, they have been busy restructuring the footballing department at Old Trafford.

A new CEO, Omar Berrada was whisked away from rivals Manchester City and the club is currently in the midst of negotiations with Newcastle to bring in highly respected sporting director, Dan Ashworth.

The INEOS revolution will not end there however, as they aim to appoint Jason Wilcox from Southampton to report directly to the new sporting director.

The Guardian reports that INEOS envision the Southampton man’s new role to be working “under Ashworth, being in charge of coaching methodology and player development pathways while the sporting director controls football operations and leads recruitment”.

It has been relayed by The Peoples Person that the club want both Wilcox and Dougie Freedman to bolster their recruitment efforts.

Pleasingly for United fans, there seems to be some progress in the Red Devils’ pursuit of the former Manchester City academy director.

Journalist Ben Jacobs has told Givemesport that, “with Jason Wilcox, I think that Southampton are braced for his exit. It’s a slightly simpler negotiation, and things are progressing, so there is a very realistic chance that he will also join Manchester United.”

The former Blackburn Rovers player has had immense success in his post playing days and has become very well respected in the game. He joined City’s academy in 2012 and worked his way up to head coach of the under 18s team.

The former winger continued to impress at the Etihad and became the academy director. He was credited with overseeing the development of numerous talented youngsters like Phil Foden and Rico Lewis, who are both established members of City’s first team squad.

As a result of his career progression, he was offered the chance of becoming director of football at Southampton, which he accepted in January 2023.

Excitingly for United fans, Wilcox and Berrada enjoyed a very successful working relationship during their time at City, so there is no reason why they cannot recreate this fruitful partnership at Old Trafford.

With the frustratingly slow process of trying to extract Ashworth from Newcastle, news of a progression in the Wilcox deal will certainly be music to INEOS’ ears as they aim to hire the finest to get United back to the top table of domestic and European football.