Who is Andrea Berta, Man Utd’s target for director of football role?

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:47 CDT
• 2 min read

It is fairly well recognised now that Manchester United are in desperate need of a director of football.

As previously detailed by FootballCritic, United have spent over £1bn in the transfer market since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Each transfer has been overseen by chief executive Ed Woodward and the manager at the time, whether it be David Moyes, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho or, now, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

There is general feeling that the club are behind the times when it comes to recruitment, with a more streamlined strategy required by putting a director of football in between the manager and Woodward.

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Numerous names have been linked with the role in the past, but most have had a sentimental Man Utd connection like Edwin van der Sar, the current chief executive of Ajax, or, strangely, BT Sport pundit Rio Ferdinand.

Further afield, RB Leipzig’s Paul Mitchell, a former employee of Southampton, or Juventus’ chief football officer, Fabio Paratici, have also been mentioned.

The man allegedly top of their list of targets, at the moment, is Berta.

Berta formerly worked in finance before becoming sporting director of Parma and then Genoa.

In 2013, he was recruited as a scout/techincal director for Atletico Madrid and since then has brought huge success to the club with his negotiations.

He was key in the acquisitions of the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Jan Oblak, and Radamel Falcao.

The Griezmann and Oblak deals, in particular, are a source of plaudits for Berta as he signed the pair for a combined €46m, with the former leaving for Barcelona a few years later for €120m, while Oblak has a market value of around €85m.

Berta was in discussions with Man Utd in 2017, but in that year he was promoted from scout to director of football, in a role which he holds to this day.

Although the Red Devils are keen to woo him again, they face major competition from his home country as Roma, Milan, and Inter have all registered interest in bringing him back to Serie A at some point, according to Marca.