Director of Euro giants close to exit as Man Utd near historic appointment

Oli Fisher
TURIN, ITALY - MAY 21: Fabio Paratici of Juventus FC celebrates with the trophy after the beating FC Crotone 3-0 to win the Serie A Championships at the end of the Serie A match between Juventus FC and FC Crotone at Juventus Stadium on May 21, 2017 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

Manchester United are set to complete the appointment of their first ever Director of Football, according to the latest reports.

A difficult summer has seen the club miss out on a plethora of targets, with United boss Jose Mourinho seeing a host of central defensive targets fail to arrive at Old Trafford.

The likes of Toby Alderweireld and Diego Godin were among those targeted – but ultimately it proved a miserable summer for the club – as the duo, for various reasons, ended up staying at their respective clubs.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has regularly clashed with Mourinho over targets, the club now intends to appoint a middle man between the two in a new director of football.

The Independent writing that the new role will be “seen as one of the most important appointments in the club’s history”.

Now, Italian source Corriere della Sera claims that Fabio Paratici will depart Juventus, with a move to Old Trafford appearing the most likely outcome in order to fill the vacany.

Newspaper Tuttosport suggested over the weekend meanwhile that Zinedine Zidane was heading for some kind of role at Juve, but not the manager’s job.

However, the CorSera report states that Zidane will in fact reject a director role with the Bianconeri and will not replace Paratici or Giuseppe Marotta, who announced he would be leaving the club.

 

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