Brutal Man Utd ready to wield the axe once again as John Murtough next in line to lose his job as part of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's extraordinary boardroom shake-up

Ratcliffe, who is due to seal a 25% stake in United in return for control of the club's sporting operations, made his first powerplay by sacking Richard Arnold as CEO on Tuesday. And according to The Mirror, sporting director Murtough is also in danger of losing his job, along with director of football operations David Harrison.

Murtough became United's first ever sporting director in 2021 and had a busy first summer in charge of the club's transfers, signing Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo. He has overseen around £400 million ($496m) in transfers over the last two years, including huge flops such as Antony and Mason Mount.

Crystal Palace's Dougie Freedman is being considered by Ratcliffe as United's next sporting director, according to The Sun, while Monaco's Paul Mitchell, who has also worked at RB Leipzig and Southampton, has also been mentioned as a potential successor to Murtough.

Ratcliffe, who beat off competition from rival bidder Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Al Thani, is expected to officially complete his minority takeover in the coming weeks. United will be the third club belonging to his INEOS group along with Nice and Lausanne-Sport.