Top goalscorer, £89m flop - Christopher Vivell’s best and worst signings as Man Utd job confirmed

As Manchester United begin to grow into this summer's transfer window, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the club's new overlords at Ineos have already made a couple of major signings off the pitch.

New sporting director Dan Ashworth's arrival was quickly followed Erik ten Hag's contract extension, securing the Dutchman's involvement for a further year which will run until 2026. With Ten Hag's backroom staff also set for a reshuffle that'll see Ruud Van Nistelrooy return to Old Trafford alongside Go Ahead Eagles coach Rene Hake, it's likely to be the first of many big changes that Ratcliffe will make to the club since his own entrance in February.

On top of the club's new CEO Omar Berrarda, who joined the operation in January and is set to officially begin work later in July, United have now signed Christopher Vivell on a shot-term basis to help with player recruitment over the summer. The 37-year-old's appointment comes a year after he left his technical director role at Chelsea due to a reorganisation under co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.

READ MORE: Manchester United receive two bids for Mason Greenwood

READ MORE: Benfica reject double bid for Joao Neves amid Manchester United transfer interest

However, if there's anything Vivell has been over the last few years, it's efficient in the transfer market - something United have been anything but. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge in multi-club models, something that could see him brought on longer-term if Ratcliffe and co. want to go down that route at Old Trafford and he has a brilliant expertise in talent ID of young stars.

It's something that Ratcliffe himself has spoken about in the past, having previously claimed that instead of splashing fortunes on top players, he'd much rather the club finds them themselves early on. Speaking on the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast in March, he said: "What I would rather do is find the next [Kylian] Mbappe, rather than spend a fortune just trying to buy success. It's not that clever, is it, buying Mbappe, in a way?

"Anybody could figure that one out. But what's much more challenging is to find the next Mbappe, the next [Jude] Bellingham or the next Roy Keane. The solution isn’t spending a lot of money on a couple of great players. They’ve done that, if you look at the last 10 years.

"The first thing we need to do is get the right people in the right boxes, managing and organising the club. We must make sure we get recruitment right, such a vital part of running a football club is getting recruitment right, finding new players."

With that being said, here's just some of the brilliant talents Vivell has been able to sign for his teams in the past and just how he could operate at Man United over the summer if he does sign...