November 12th 2023.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is reportedly interested in potentially making Crystal Palace sporting director Dougie Freedman a part of his team as he prepares for a minority takeover of Manchester United. The British billionaire is believed to be paying £1.4billion for a 25% stake in the Red Devils, with a deal likely to be announced in the coming week.
Ratcliffe is looking to have full control of the football operations and as part of this, he is searching for a new sporting director to take charge of transfers. Names such as Paul Mitchell, Michael Edwards, and Julian Ward have been linked with the club, but the Daily Star reports that Freedman is also on the shortlist. Ratcliffe is said to be a fan of the Palace chief's work, as is Sir Dave Brailsford who will be in charge of revamping United's transfer department.
Freedman has a long-standing relation with the Eagles, having played for them for 10 years across two spells. He then became the manager in 2011 and was part of the team that returned the club to the Premier League. After struggling with Bolton and Nottingham Forest, Freedman returned to Selhurst Park in 2017 as the sporting director. Since then, he has been credited with signing players such as Marc Guehi, Eberechi Eze, and Michael Olise for relatively low fees. Guehi and Eze both went on to become England internationals and have been consistently linked with big money moves.
Freedman's work is perhaps underrated given that Palace have a net spend of just over £100m over the last five years and yet have never really been troubled by relegation. The club has also made shrewd, bargain transfers such as that of Jordan Ayew and Vicente Guaita, and the loan signing of Conor Gallagher.
It remains to be seen if Freedman, 49, would be interested in trading South London for Manchester. As the situation develops, United fans will be hoping that Ratcliffe can bring success to the club, and if Freedman is part of this team, then it could be an exciting time for the Red Devils.
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