Ratcliffe wasting no time stamping his authority on Man United's operations

Sir Jim Ratcliffe appears to be wasting no time stamping his authority on Manchester United's football operations.

The INEOS billionaire, who will pay £1.3billion for a 25 per cent stake at Old Trafford, wants to appoint a new sporting director to oversee the club's player recruitment.

It emerged on Thursday that Ratcliffe will seek out the sage advice of legendary United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in order to make the best appointment.

A number of candidates have emerged for the role, some currently in post at other clubs and some out of work, with the job of existing director of football John Murtough vulnerable.

As Ratcliffe closes in on a deal, we run the rule over the mooted candidates for this vital role.

DOUGIE FREEDMAN

One of the interesting aspects of Ratcliffe seeking Ferguson's counsel is that it could advance the cause of Freedman.

The two Scots are good friends and former neighbours when Freedman lived in Cheshire prior to taking his present role at Crystal Palace's sporting director.

In 2011, when Freedman, 49, was Palace manager, he spent time observing Ferguson's methods at Old Trafford. It remains to be seen whether Ferguson recommends his friend.

But Freedman has a strong case on his own merits, having overseen some very good recruitment at Palace in recent years.

Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Michael Olise are among their signings after the club placed an accent on finding talented young players who could be developed to Premier League quality.

Freedman is known for his diligence when scouting potential recruits, having watched Guehi as many as 20 times before Palace bought him from Chelsea for £18million in 2021.

As he has done for Roy Hodgson at Selhurst Park, Freedman can help Erik ten Hag by taking care of some of the extraneous responsibilities around recruitment, allowing the Dutchman to concentrate on coaching.

The aim for Ratcliffe will be to cut out United's enormous wastage on players who lack either the ability or the elite attitude - or both - to represent the club after over £1bn was spent on signings since Ferguson retired in 2013.

But not everyone is impressed, with United legend Rio Ferdinand questioning Freedman's track record. 'I don't remember anyone saying, 'wow look at what Palace are doing,' he said last week.

However, Palace are keen to hold onto their man - on Friday, chairman Steve Parish said that although the links were 'flattering', he 'certainly (didn't) think there's been any conversations (between United and Freedman).'

PAUL MITCHELL

Mitchell has been linked with this post for some time and remains a name very much in contention now Ratcliffe is closing in on his deal. Some reports put him as the frontrunner.

The 42-year-old left his sporting director role at Monaco back in March, citing a desire to spend more time with his family but feeling 'fulfilled' at what he'd achieved.

Prior to that, Mitchell held recruitment roles at MK Dons, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur and RB Leipzig after injury curtailed his playing career.

Saints gained promotion to the Premier League during Mitchell's time has their head of recruitment and he oversaw the signings of Sadio Mane, Dusan Tadic and Dejan Lovren.

Following coach Mauricio Pochettino to Spurs, Mitchell made Dele Alli his first signing and followed that up with the likes of Son Heung-min, Kieran Trippier and Toby Alderweireld.

Mitchell - who hails from near Manchester - was first linked with a role at Old Trafford back in 2018 but he instead joined the Red Bull stable of clubs.

His role with Monaco began in the summer of 2020, with the club achieving third-placed finishes in consecutive seasons.

He was linked with the sporting director role at Liverpool earlier this year but United's bitter rivals chose to appoint German Jorg Schmadtke instead.

There's no question Mitchell has an impressive CV and his appointment would represent a statement of intent by United as they seek to make their transfer business more efficient.

LEE CONGERTON

The Daily Telegraph reported Congerton, currently the head of senior recruitment at Serie A club Atalanta, as a contender for the job.

The Welshman, 51, was responsible for bringing Rasmus Hojlund in from Sturm Graz for £14.85m and then selling the Danish striker on to United for a chunky £72m just a year later.

Congerton actually believed Hojlund was worth a little more, as high as £90m, but a deal was struck.

Prior to Atalanta, Congerton was a coach at Liverpool and then at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho, later heading up the Blues' scouting department.

He then became technical director of German club Hamburg before working at Sunderland, Celtic and Leicester City, forming a good connection with his former Chelsea colleague Brendan Rodgers.

Recruits on Congerton's watch at Leicester included Wesley Fofana, Timothy Castagne, Youri Tielemans and James Justin.

Given their experience of dealing with him over Hojlund, perhaps United believe Congerton can help them extract better value for money when signing players.

ANDREA BERTA

Atletico Madrid transfer guru Berta has been linked with not only United but also Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain in recent weeks.

The Italian has gained a positive reputation within football after whipping Atletico's transfer policy into shape during a decade of success.

He was their technical director as they reached Champions League finals in 2014 and 2016, losing on both occasions to rivals Real Madrid. The club won the LaLiga title in 2014.

Promoted to sporting director in 2017, Atletico achieved another title success in the 2020-21 campaign.

Prominent arrivals he has over seen during his time there include Joao Felix, Antoine Griezmann, Thomas Lemar, Alvaro Morata and Marcus Llorente.

Atletico's success domestically and in Europe is precisely what United have lost in the past decade, so maybe 51-year-old Berta might be able to restore them there.

PAOLO MALDINI AND RICKY MASSARA

There's no question Maldini is the most famous name on the list. The former defender appeared in eight Champions League finals with AC Milan, winning five of them, and racked up 902 games for the club.

But his affiliation with them is over for the time being after his sacking from their technical director role back in June after five years in post.

While Maldini brought in the likes of Rafael Leao, Theo Hernandez and Fikayo Tomori, leading to a first Serie A title in 11 years in 2022, the club's hierarchy ousted him in a restructure.

That followed a power struggle with Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani, who took the lead in contract talks with Leao having previously clashed with Maldini over attempts to appoint Ralf Rangnick as coach.

Frederic 'Ricky' Massara departed at the same time having worked closely with Maldini as Milan's director of football.

They may come as a pair to United or individually, with Maldini certainly a stellar name if Ratcliffe wanted one working behind the scenes.