Inside Man Utd's raid of rivals City for Omar Berrada as stunning move for new CEO sent shockwaves throughout both clubs

Berrada worked for City for 12 years and most recently was chief football operations officer, leading him to play a key role in the signings of Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland. He has made a controversial move to become United's new CEO and his departure shocked many members of City's staff, according to The Athletic. Senior members of United's staff were also reportedly kept in the dark about the move, and only learned about it when the news broke in the media before being confirmed by the Red Devils on Saturday night.

Berrada's departure for City's greatest rivals is said to have caused shockwaves at the Premier League champions and in Abu Dhabi, where the first-team squad were holding a warm-weather training camp. Players and coaching staff were stunned when they found out the Frenchman had agreed to become United's CEO. However, Pep Guardiola, chief executive Ferran Soriano and director of football Txiki Begiristain had all been informed he was leaving.

Berrada, who joined City from Barcelona in 2011, worked as chief financial officer for eight years and has been credited for their huge commercial growth in the last 15 years. His work helped the club post record revenues last year, fuelled by Guardiola's side winning the treble.

Berrada has left City and is serving a six-month period of gardening leave before taking over at United, meaning he is unlikely to be at the next game at Newport County in the FA Cup on Sunday. He is expected to start work in the summer ahead of the 2024-25 season. By then, he should have a new sporting director to work with and may have to make a huge decision on Erik ten Hag's future. The Dutchman, who is having aterrible second season in charge of the Red Devils, will be out of contract in 2025.