Sir Alex Ferguson called out Berrada and Wilcox over transfer strategy at Man Utd board meeting

Sir Alex Ferguson has ‘voiced his concerns’ about Man Utd to Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox. Sir Alex Ferguson had a ‘robust’ discussion with Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox over their transfer strategy at a Manchester United board meeting in September.

Ferguson won 24 major trophies in his time as Manchester United boss, including 13 Premier League titles and two Champions Leagues, before retiring in 2013.

Michael Carrick became the seventh permanent manager to be sacked in the post-Fergie era on Thursday.

The former Red Devils midfielder was given his marching orders with United 18th in the table with just eight points from their opening ten games of the season. Mauricio Pochettino is expected to be imminently announced as his replacement.

Carrick has received plenty of sympathy after leading the Red Devils back into the Champions League last season, with fans continuing to support him through the current campaign as the problems at the club are seen as running far deeper.

Protests against the Glazer family, who saddled the club with £600m worth of debt following their leveraged takeover 21 years ago, are nothing new, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe has now joined the American owners as a villain of the piece after promising the “best in class” upon buying a minority stake in February 2024.

Few would agree that Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox represent leaders in their fields on the back of their work as CEO and director of football respectively.

And a report from The Athletic has revealed that Ferguson – who’s now a Global Ambassador for United – ‘voiced his concerns over the transfer strategy, mainly the 2024 window, to Berrada and Wilcox during a football board meeting in September’.

The report adds that ‘the forum is meant for informal discussions rather than to conduct business, but given Ferguson’s enduring passion for United, robust conversations can take place’.

The 2024 transfer window saw Man Utd sign Leny Yoro, Manuel Ugarte, Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraoui for around £180m combined.

Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Senne Lammens joined a year later in what most would say was a successful window, but the Man Utd decision-makers have been heavily criticised for their work this summer.

Carrick wanted ‘significantly more than was delivered, not least a backup striker and left-back’ and while a midfield rebuild was required following the departure of Casemiro and an acceptance that Manuel Ugarte was never going to come good, the signings they did make ‘were seventh or eighth’ on the shortlist.

Andrey Santos, Carlos Baleba and Youri Tielemans were drafted in for a combined £150m, but Elliot Anderson was their top target, followed by Mateus Fernandes, Sandro Tonali, Aurelien Tchouameni, Alex Scott, Ederson and Ayyoub Bouaddi.

The report also revealed that ‘United gave serious consideration to signing Leon Goretzka as a free agent instead of Tielemans’. Goretzka instead replaced Tielemans at Villa and scored against United in Carrick’s last game in charge.

A report on Thursday claimed Anderson in fact wanted to join Manchester United but the move never got off the ground as Jason Wilcox failed to come close to their valuation before Manchester City swooped to pay £116m for the England international.

And a ‘complicated’ transfer process requiring the sign-off of six different individuals at Man Utd can’t have helped matters.

‘Agents have reported a complicated process in some cases in getting a clear answer from United, with several executives needing to be looped in or convinced. As well as Berrada and Wilcox, there is Christopher Vivell, director of recruitment, and Matt Hargreaves, director of negotiations. All transfers then require ratification from Ratcliffe and the Glazers.’

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What Sir Alex Ferguson has been telling Manchester United and Mauricio Pochettino has been revealed by a reliable journalist.