The Red Devils have made their first significant hire of the Sir Jim Ratcliffe era, who will be a major upgrade on Richard Arnold
"A common theme of my career has been to take risks and try things. To be part of a journey which can go well or go badly, but you learn," Omar Berrada said in a sit down with the EU Business School back in 2021. In swapping near-guaranteed success at Manchester City for an ambitious new project just 5.6 miles down the road at Old Trafford, Berrada has taken on his greatest challenge yet.
Manchester United appointed the 46-year-old as their new chief executive officer on Saturday, sending shockwaves through boardrooms across English football. Berrada, who is set to start his new role in the summer, has spent the last 13 years pulling the strings behind the scenes at City, and without him, they wouldn't have conquered the Premier League and Champions League.
"The club is determined to put football and performance on the pitch back at the heart of everything we do," United said in an official statement. "Omar’s appointment represents the first step on this journey."
INEOS have shown they mean business by luring Berrada away from City. Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his team are already laying the foundations for future success after purchasing a 25 percent stake at United, with the much-maligned Glazer family finally stepping back from footballing operations.
Berrada's expertise in all areas of the game will be invaluable, and his arrival is exactly what is needed to stamp out the toxic, player-power culture that has been allowed to breed at Old Trafford over the past decade. United's new minority owners have made their ambition to turn the Red Devils back into a title-winning club clear, which means mediocrity will no longer be accepted, and the capture of Berrada represents their first move for a best-in-class operator.
Who is Omar Berrada?
Berrada was born in Paris to Moroccan parents, but went through the schooling system in the United States, and eventually got into a university in Massachusetts to study engineering. He dropped out of the degree after just six months, though, and took the brave decision to move to Barcelona as an 18-year-old.
After getting a job at Tiscali – a Spanish telecommunication company – Berrada met his wife and found an unlikely route into football. Barca drafted in Tiscali's CEO as their new chief marketing officer, and he managed to convince the club to give Berrada a job, too, which would lead him to start working with Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano for the first time.
Berrada eventually earned the position as Barca's head of sponsorship, and also struck up a relationship with Pep Guardiola before leaving Camp Nou in 2011. He then accepted a role as City's head of international business development, with Begiristain and Soriano joining him at the Etihad Stadium one year later.
Director of partnership sales and senior vice-president group commercial director roles followed for Berrada, who became City's chief operating officer in 2016 – the same year Guardiola's reign as head coach began. Since then, he has been Soriano's right-hand man.
As the managing director of the entire City Football Group (CFG), which now owns a grand total of 13 clubs, Soriano was not always able to cover all of the day-to-day activities at the Etihad, and so Berrada stepped in to lead on marketing, commercial and media matters. He was also asked to assist Begiristain in his sporting director duties, most crucially having a say on transfers.
According to , Berrada "helped close" City's £57 million ($73m) deal for Aymeric Laporte in January 2018, and his influence grew rapidly from there until he was promoted again, this time to chief football operations officer. On the surface, only one word had been added to his job title, but the appointment marked his first foray into a senior role for the CFG.
Advertisement(C)Getty ImagesThoughtful approach to transfers
Over the past four years, Berrada has been key to City's transfer strategy, with one particular move standing out above all the rest. That, of course, was the £50m ($64m) capture of Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund, who re-wrote the record books during his first season in England.
Berrada and Begiristain initially opened talks with the late 'super-agent' Mino Raiola over a potential deal for Haaland in February 2022, and managed to secure his signature by early June, reportedly seeing off competition from La Liga giants Real Madrid. Haaland proved to be the last piece in the puzzle for Guardiola as he finally delivered elusive European silverware at City last season, and he had Berrada to thank for tapping into what really drives the Norwegian striker.
"A player like Haaland really could have chosen any top team in Europe. Almost all the top teams were interested in his signature," Berrada said on the Sky documentary titled . "For us, it was about understanding what motivates him. When you boil it down to its essence, he wanted a football project. We spent a lot of time explaining the football project. He's a strong character and the decision was taken by him, but clearly the fact that his father had played for Man City, there was an affinity."
He added: "The transfer market has almost become a competition in itself. What you don't realise is the sheer amount of pressure you deal with. Yes, there's an element of the transaction – the salary, the fee, the commission. But you're dealing with people, people who have dreams, fears and who may have influences within their own entourage. You have to really try and understand who you are speaking to. When you understand that, you have a better sense of how to negotiate."
That thoughtful approach to signing new players is exactly what has been missing at United in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. The Glazers have invested billions in the squad, but a lack of proper planning and questionable scouting has led to the club's poor recruitment record – something Berrada has all the qualities to reverse.
GettyBreaking the cycle
According to , Berrada was in charge of finalising contract terms for new players, which required him to be acutely aware of the salary scales in the squad. His work has helped ensure that City never overpay for their top targets, with a clear wage structure ensuring that harmony is always maintained in the dressing room.
In stark contrast, United have handed out staggering financial packages to new signings, with the likes of Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and Antony all penning life-changing deals before proving themselves at Old Trafford. Big names like Casemiro and Raphael Varane have also flopped, which has left the Red Devils paying out £500,000 every month since September to players that have fallen out of favour, been sidelined through injury, or in the case of Sancho, been left out due to disciplinary reasons – as per .
That unstable financial model has caused certain players to rebel against current manager Erik ten Hag, just as they did with his predecessors, while adopting the mindset that they are bigger than the club. The passion and insatiable hunger to win that Ferguson instilled in several different squads across his 27-year reign is long gone, with too many now looking out only for their own interests.
City were in the market for some of the same players, most notably Fred, Maguire and Cristiano Ronaldo, but on each of those occasions they were happy to let their neighbours come out on top instead of breaking their carefully built structure.
“In terms of Harry Maguire, we have shown very clearly over the last few seasons that we will only go for a transfer if we feel it is the right valuation," Berrada said in an interview with in 2020. "So we look at the player’s quality, age, experience, what he can bring to the team, and then decide the correct valuation."
United's new CEO will immediately set about overhauling the club's transfer policy when he officially starts work at Old Trafford. The days of reckless spending will soon be over, with Ratcliffe's dream team already falling into place as he awaits final ratification from the Premier League for INEOS' investment in the club.
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Getty ImagesRatcliffe isn't wasting any time
Back in November, Richard Arnold announced his resignation as United's chief executive to spark the boardroom shake-up that supporters are hoping can bring about a swift turnaround in fortunes on the pitch, with head of legal Patrick Stewart stepping in on an interim basis. Arnold always seemed like an odd fit for the role due to his non-existent football experience, and handed responsibility on sporting matters to John Murtough.
Arnold was head of commercial under United's former executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, and so he naturally focused on the bottom line from an economic standpoint, instead of having any input on how best to improve the team. That won't be the case with Berrada, who will be expected to make signings, appoint managers and effectively reshape the entire football department at Old Trafford.
Ratcliffe, alongside Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean Claude-Blanc – the two other members of the INEOS senior team tasked with overseeing operations at United – have already identified where the club have been failing, and firmly believe that Berrada is the right man to affect significant change.
Joel and Avram Glazer signed off on the appointment of Berrada, but the has reported Ratcliffe led talks with the City chief right from the off. United's days of drawing out hires, and transfers, appear to be over with the British billionaire methodically picking his staff and generally getting everything done in a swift and efficient manner.