Manchester United Director Of Football Negotiations Resigns From Position

Manchester United's transfer strategy for the summer has taken another twist, with confirmation that director of football negotiations Matt Judge has quit the club.

United are set for a huge summer with Erik ten Hag set to arrive at the club as their permanent manager and no doubt wanting to bring in some players, whilst a whole host are set to leave.

Ten Hag could have Ralf Rangnick as a consultant at Old Trafford, even with the German set to become manager of the Austria national team.

The club's recruitment policy has been criticised by both Ten Hag and Rangnick and things have already begun changing behind the scenes, with two scouts leaving the club recently.

Now Judge is set to join him out of the club, with the Athletic confirming that the man responsible for negotiating transfers and contracts handing in his resignation notice.

Ten Hag has a lot of work to do when he arrives in England in June. Image: PA Images

The director of football has been in his position since 2014 and was previously considered to be working closely with Ed Woodward, before he left the club at the end of last year.

Judge is still working his notice period, and isn't on gardening leave, but will not be part of the club's strategy for transfers in the upcoming window.

He is said to have considered his future at the club due to a reshuffle in the the structure behind the scenes at United, as the club desperately try to get closer to rivals Manchester City and Liverpool.

John Murtough, the club's first ever director of football, will now have full control of the transfer policy, alongside technical director Darren Fletcher.

There has been talk of the club looking to appoint Paul Mitchell, who is currently Monaco's director of football, and has previously worked at RB Leipzig, where Rangnick also worked.

United fans were happy when Ed Woodward left the club earlier this season. Image: PA Images

The club have been constantly criticised for their scouting and recruitment, with claims that they've gone for big name signings rather than players who they needed.

The change in structure at Old Trafford could certainly be seen as a good thing, especially in the wake of Woodward leaving, who was at the heart of much negative press over their transfers.

However Judge did help negotiate Ten Hag coming in as the new manager and him leaving so abruptly might not be such a good thing.

Only time will tell but it's likely to be very busy summer with the likes of Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata all expected to leave.

Topics: Manchester United, Transfers, Premier League, Ralf Rangnick, Erik Ten Hag

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

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