Jason Wilcox could help Manchester United solve £149m problem Sir Jim Ratcliffe has identified

With the football oversight at Manchester United now handed over to Sir Jim Ratcliffe after the Premier League ratified his 28 per cent equity purchase in the club, the wheels of change are in motion at Old Trafford.

While as a business United have been able to continue to make money and grow their commercial operations - making the owners, the Glazer family, far richer in the process - it has happened during a decade where competitive success on the pitch has been harder to come by. Without a Premier League title in 11 years, United are pressing something of a reset button when it comes to football operations; the hiring of former chief of football operations at Manchester City, Omar Berrada, was one of the first moves to be made.

That could, still, be followed by a new sporting director, with United wanting to bring Newcastle United’s Dan Ashworth, a man lauded for his work with England and Brighton & Hove Albion, to the club. On Thursday, a report by the Athletic claimed that the club also were keen to bring in Jason Wilcox, the former Blackburn Rovers winger whose time in youth coaching had seen him play a significant role in developing elite and lucrative talent to emerge from the academies of both Manchester City then Southampton.

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Such a move points to Ratcliffe and INEOS wanting to try and address what has been a failing of the club over the last decade when compared with their main rivals, where weaker player trading has meant that the ability to spend money on acquiring new talent without finding themselves under scrutiny when it comes to the Premier