Man United already know Christopher Vivell transfer demand after £300m blockbuster spend

A club massively underperforming both on and off the pitch, in need of more transfer efficiency, recently with fresh outside investment and a new look sporting structure being hastily put in place after years of neglect.

There are plenty of parallels between Chelsea's December 2022 appointment of Christopher Vivell and the circumstances in which Manchester United are looking at bringing him into. Right the way down to the period of time that the new ownership groups had been in charge, the similarities are there.

Unlike many of these deals, though, it is not because of the work Vivell did at Stamford Bridge that he is being targeted by United as a short-term director. According to The Athletic, the German is being courted as a possible summer arrival to help oversee the summer window.

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It comes at the same time that Dan Ashworth has finally seen his move to Old Trafford confirmed. Chief executive Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox are the other names in the backroom team that Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his Ineos group are putting in place.

But Vivell is not, it appears, part of the long-term plans for the furniture at United. That doesn't mean he can't have an impact.

Vivell's track record to date is impressive. He headed the work in scouting, coordination, and squad planning in the much revered Red Bull success stories Salzburg and Leipzig. Before that he impressed in roles at Hoffenheim, where he worked with Julian Nagelsmann. And then there's his brief period at Chelsea.

The only full transfer window he was involved at in London was mixed, to say the least. For Malo Gusto there is Mykhailo Mudryk. If Benoit Badaishile is seen as a good piece of business, then Noni Madueke splits opinion. It may have only been on paper but Vivell was theoretically one of the leading parts of the team at Chelsea when they went deep into deadline day in January 2023 to break the British transfer record for Enzo Fernandez.

That came just six months after he had moved to Benfica for ten times less. He is yet to show why that level of outlay was spent. Christopher Nkunku is a fine player but by the time Vivell was in charge it was already largely in place for him to join Chelsea. There was £300million spent that winter with Vivell involved.

One window later and he was on gardening leave. Chelsea had made Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart - both with impressive CVs but in differing circumstances - the real heads for their new model. Vivell was out before he even settled.

There have been suggestions that he was disenfranchised with the way the structure was working. Too many cooks spoil the broth, or so they say. It was a concern at the time when Chelsea hired four new directors into a team, each with their own targets and ideas.

Vivell was never the key man at Chelsea. He was perhaps the most noteworthy but was not the director who became a household name or made the biggest impact. Instead, it was co-owner Behdad Eghbali and Winstanley who went on to run the roost.

United certainly won't be able to say that they don't know how Vivell likes to work. And frankly, why wouldn't they like what he has to offer?

Vivell boasts a strong array of players signed at Leipzig and Salzburg. Dominik Szoboszlai, Erling Haaland, and Benjamin Sesko are just a few. Josko Gvardiol, Timo Werner, and Mohamed Simakan are others.

United will be less interested by the sales he managed to achieve but they are just as impressive with Dayot Upamecano, Naby Keita, Ibrahima Konate, and Tyler Adams all leaving for significant fees under his watch. Nagelsmann was allowed to thrive as a head coach within the environment that he helped to create.

This is all idyllic for United. How much of this can Vivell help to implement in a matter of months? It's hard to know. Advisors, as he may well effectively be, are extremely useful though, and with other new important figures waiting to get themselves going at Carrington, or else with plans to look beyond the first realistic chance for Ratcliffe and co to get down to action, Vivell could be a smart appointment himself.

The big question for United, and for Vivell, is just what sort of control he will be given. When it comes to building squads for a defined style of play he is one of the most established in the world, but as Chelsea witnessed in a fashion not too far from United's current situation, leaving the waters muddy will benefit nobody.