Man Utd chief Ed Woodward 'close to appointing' new director of football

Manchester United are reportedly close to appointing a new director of football – and Luis Campos is believed to be the club’s leading choice.

United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been keen to appoint a director of football for some time to oversee the club’s transfer strategy.

The Red Devils had wanted somebody in place by the start of this season, with the likes of Ralf Rangnick and former United players Edwin van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand having been linked.

The search dragged on – but United are now closing in on their top target Campos, according to The Sun .

Portuguese transfer guru Campos is director of football at Lille, and previously worked at Monaco.

While at Monaco he unearthed gems such as Kylian Mbappe, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva and Anthony Martial, while he also took Nicolas Pepe to Lille before the winger’s £72million transfer to Arsenal .

Campos has a close relationship with his compatriot Jose Mourinho, having been his assistant manager at Real Madrid .

And the 55-year-old was linked with a move to Tottenham as sporting director after Mourinho took charge in November last year.

Campos was identified by United as a candidate for the director of football role when the search began 18 months ago, according to The Sun.

But the publication says it was felt that appointing Campos would give too much power to Mourinho, who was United manager at the time.

Now, however, Campos is believed to be the club’s top target due to his impressive track record.

Woodward is keen to appoint somebody who can oversee the club’s transition away from recruiting big-name stars and towards developing young players.

The United chief has overseen the signings of big-money flops such as Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

But summer recruits Harry Maguire, Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka were representative of the direction in which the club wants to go in terms of transfers.

This month, United missed out on top transfer target Erling Haaland , who scored a second-half hat-trick on his debut for new club Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

The new man’s job at United will be to ensure a coherent strategy to continue building for the future as the club aims to recapture its glory days.