Manchester United’s Director of Football Jason Wilcox has appeared on a new podcast series ‘Inside Carrington’ on the Red Devils’ official website.
Wilcox has gone from complete silence to giving two interviews in a week, as the tide has turned in Manchester United’s favor over the past month.
Ruben Amorim has won back-to-back games for the first time since arriving at Old Trafford a year ago, turning his two wins into three with a 4-2 win over Brighton late last month.
A 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest at the weekend would have been a great result last season, and it was crucial this season to continue Amorim’s unbeaten run.
Confidence is slowly growing at Old Trafford and Man United supporters are no longer looking forward to the game with trepidation.
With some good results on the bounce, Wilcox has already given himself a boost and is now delving into various subjects related to the club.
Here are five of his most fascinating insights from the “Inside Carrington” interview.
What men are looking for is a “clean life expert”, not a Harlem Globetrotter.
“It’s not about keeping the Harlem Globetrotters together,” Wilcox said. “If you look at Man United’s successful teams, there were functional players who would die for the badge, and there were mavericks.”
As for what the Red Devils are looking for, Manchester United’s director of football added: “Last summer window (2024) was much more chaotic than this one, but this time it was really calm. This time we knew the plan, we knew which players to target, we had a list and we knew which areas of the pitch we needed to improve.”
“It’s been an ongoing meeting with myself and Ruben (Amorim), Chris Vivel and his team, and we’re very clear about the profile that we need. So the brief comes from me and Ruben, it goes to Chris, there’s a lot of discussion and discussion about the profile that we need, and then the scouts go to market and combine that with the data team and then it’s just an ongoing dialogue.”
“Right now, I have weekly meetings with the recruitment team about different profiles, age groups, costs, achievability, etc. It’s a really collaborative approach, including Ruben. When you sign a player, there are so many people involved in that process. The data team is involved in that process and we’re going to focus all our attention on that particular player.”
“So it is very important to do a background check to see if they are professionals with a clean living, which is really important. This year we looked at players who were Premier League ready, but certainly we had Brian (Mbeumo) and Matheus (Cunha), so we couldn’t take too many risks in this area. We had little transition time and needed players who could plug and play.”
Senne Lamence becomes ‘top contract’
“Senne (Lamence), we always had our eye on a goalkeeper with great potential. Senne was available so we decided to move him, but it wasn’t an opportunistic reaction. Toni Coton had our eye on Senne 12 months ago. But he was relentless in his pursuit of it. This player is going to be a top signing for us and he’s off to a good start, but he’s got to keep it going. He’s very thoughtful and very professional in his approach.”
Benjamin Sesko ‘helping’ two teammates
“Benji, he’s going to be a great player at the top end. It’s difficult to be a No. 9 at United and I know sometimes Matheus and Brian get a lot of recognition, but Benji’s goals are helping Matheus and Brian as well.”
“All four of them did very well in their signings last summer and are top professionals.”
Ruben Amorim is more ‘flexible’ than people think…
“We have to continue to build the spirit and continue to develop Ruben’s ideas further. Ruben has a very clear idea, a much more flexible idea than people give it credit for. We have to start with the end in mind, we have to understand the game model, what Manchester United are. That is really important and we have to put the pieces of the jigsaw together.”
“We want to put the pieces of the jigsaw together and put all the pieces in a place where we see a very clear picture, but it becomes even more difficult when you lose a few football games because while you’re building and you’re building the picture, people start to question things. But we’re really clear about ourselves, Ruben, Omar (Berrada), the owners, the direction we’re going, and this is very important.”
“We are guardians.”
“All we’re doing now is making sure we’re making decisions for the good of the football club, not for profit or short-term self-preservation. We’re making really bold decisions for the future of Man United.
“Man United is bigger than any player, bigger than any manager, bigger than any staff. As you wish, we are custodians and we need to understand that at some point our journey will inevitably come to an end.
“We need to make sure that whenever we leave this football club, it’s in a better position. I hope to be here for a long, long time.”
