Manchester United’s most difficult transfer this summer was of Bryan Mbeumo, for whom Brentford drove a hard bargain, but they are ready to talk to them again.
The signing of Bryan Mbeumo took more than a month, despite the player making it crystal clear that he only wanted to join Man Utd.
Brentford’s conduct was frustrating at the time as well, which left a sour taste in the mouth of Man Utd fans.
However, it is the need of the hour, and Man Utd are set to raid Brentford again for a key man who has Jason Wilcox’s approval.
Man Utd set to hire Stephen Torpey
Man Utd’s academy is thriving, but there was a clear need for the replacement of the person who made it all happen.
Nick Cox is leaving for Everton for a bigger role with the senior team, so United needed a new head of youth development/head of academy.
Under Cox’s leadership, United redefined their whole academy structure to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Man City after falling behind in the late 2010s.
Now that he’s leaving for Everton, United are set to appoint Brentford’s academy director, Stephen Torpey, as his replacement, as per The Athletic.
Torpey has done a fantastic job of picking up Brentford’s youth system, which had a Category 4 academy and no youth teams, and converting it into a thriving Category 2 academy with full-fledged youth teams from U9s to U16s.
This was a unique job in world football, as Brentford had scrapped their youth system entirely in favour of a B Team model.
Torpey managed to build it back from the ground up, which is a great marker of his abilities.
Torpey increases Jason Wilcox’s growing influence at Man Utd
Torpey’s appointment also increases Jason Wilcox’s growing influence at the club, as the two have a history dating back to their days at Man City.
Torpey was a part of City’s youth system staff when Wilcox was the academy director, helping the blue half of Manchester become a dominant outfit in the English youth football circuit.
This follows the appointment of David Horseman as Man Utd U21s’ assistant coach, who is also a former colleague of Wilcox.
Since joining United as the technical director, Wilcox has already risen through the ranks to become the director of football.
The trinity of Wilcox-Omar Berrada-Christopher Vivell finally has a settled look to it, and hirings like these only serve to strengthen their growing influence.
It would be worrying if these were purely networking hires, but Ineos’ calls have more or less been on-point at the club, so they have enough fan credit in the bank.
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