Paul Scholes believes a director of football would ‘take a lot of pressure off Ed Woodward’ and that his former team-mate Edwin van der Sar would be a ‘perfect’ fit for the role.
Woodward has come under fire after another sub-par transfer window for the Red Devils, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reportedly frustrated and disappointed at the club’s failure to land his top transfer targets.
United chiefs failed to land Jadon Sancho and Erling Haaland over the past 12 months and rushed through four deals on transfer deadline day.
One of those deals was a two-year free transfer for 33-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain striker Edinson Cavani – a move Scholes blasted as ‘very strange’ – and the late rush to bring in players reeked of desperation.
It has brought conversations of whether Manchester United need a director of football back to the fore.
Several ex-United players, including Rio Ferdinand and Darren Fletcher, have been linked with the potential post in the past but Scholes thinks Van der Sar should be the man to come through the door.
‘I think a director of football would take a lot of pressure off Ed Woodward, of course it would,’ he told Stadium Astro.
‘I think Ed’s very good at running the club and making money for the club. I’m not sure he has the knowledge of football that’s required to go out and sign players and clearly there’s been some issues in getting deals over the line.
‘I think a director of football would be very good for him to take him out of the limelight a little bit.
‘We don’t seem to want to go down that road. Whether they’ve looked at people and they can’t find the right person, I don’t know.’
Asked if he would consider the role, he replied: ‘No, I’ve got no experience in that role whatsoever.
‘He’s done that job at Ajax, it was always a role he wanted to go into. He’s been to university and studied for that role.
‘The likes of Rio and Fletch are similar to me really, it’s more of a consultancy – what do you think of this player? Just someone to ring up and give a bit of an idea.’
