Manchester United have begun searching for a new role of sporting director and already a host of top names are being linked.

United have never had a sporting director or a director of football in their 140-year history – but the club are restructuring and are now set to bring in somebody to work in between the club’s hierarchy and management.

This summer has seen United struggle in the transfer window, amid reports that manager Jose Mourinho and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had clashed over a number of targets.

Now United are going down the route that many of Europe’s top clubs have gone down in recent years, and the club already have a number of targets in mind.

Roma’s current director of football Monchi is considered one of the finest exponents of the role and is considered the favourite.

Juventus’ Fabio Paratici and former goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar – currently CEO of Ajax – have also been strongly linked.

There are also believed to be a number of British candidates including the Football Association’s Dan Ashworth and Paul Mitchell of Red Bull Leipzig.

Bookmakers are of the belief that Monchi is best placed to land what would be one of the best jobs of its kind in world football and PaddyPower make him 5/2 favourite.

Spokesman Paddy Power told us: “Manchester United love a big-money, foreign signing, so it makes sense that Monchi is our favourite for this job.

“However, though he worked miracles at Sevilla, he hasn’t exactly revolutionised Roma yet.”