Manchester United’s new football director John Murtough ‘turned down the chance to join Inter Miami’

Manchester United‘s surprise new football director John Murtough held talks with David Beckham and Inter Miami before deciding to stay at Old Trafford, according to reports.

On Wednesday, the little-known head of football development at United was promoted to become the club’s first football director, with former midfielder Darren Fletcher now technical director.

The Sun report that Murtough was rewarded for his loyalty by Ed Woodward and the Manchester United hierarchy, having recently turned down advances from Beckham to stay at Old Trafford.

It is claimed Murtough spoke to Beckham and was interested in the role, but ultimately decided to stay in Manchester, where he has now beaten the likes of Edwin van der Sar and Luis Campos to a role that has been years in the pipeline.

Murtough was brought to United seven years ago by David Moyes from the Premier League, where he was head of elite performance, after the two men worked together at Everton. He has overseen many of the changes of the first-team and academy structure at United as well as the formation of a women’s team.

Seen as ‘a fixer’ who gets things done but is also open to new ideas, Murtough is already Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s main point of contact at Carrington day-to-day. 

He will now be the main contact for other clubs, taking some of the burden off Woodward, as well as the only man who reports directly to the United chief.

Meanwhile, Beckham’s desire to hire someone of Murtough’s stature has reportedly left Inter Miami staff under no illusions as to how serious the ownership group are.

After a tough first season in MLS, Phil Neville has come in as manager and is in the process of reshaping his squad ahead of the new campaign.

Off the field, it is understood Beckham is keen to recruit as many big names as possible as Inter Miami attempt to become one of the biggest clubs in the US.