Dimitar Berbatov puts his name forward for Manchester United Director of Football

Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has said put his name forward for United's potential director of football position.

United are on the search for a director of football with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward claiming on his quarterly conference call earlier this year that the club are 'looking at their structures and looking at how we should strengthen, all areas of the club is something we're doing on a continual basis' with several names already circulating, including former players Edwin van der Sar and Rio Ferdinand both mentioned as well as former Spurs recruitment chief Paul Mitchell. Berbatov linked himself with a potential role but stressed that the successful candidate cannot be given the role on the basis that they're a former player. Writing in his blog for Betfair, Berbatov noted:

"I'm curious to see which players come to United and while we can speculate Ole is in charge and hopefully the new recruits will be the right player for the team, not just to please the fans. "After Rio Ferdinand last week, Darren Fletcher is the latest name linked with the Director of Football role but why not Dimitar Berbatov? I have the degree in Sports Management (as well as coaching badges) for starters. "This is an important position, you are the link between the manager and the team and directors. United have to find someone who can do this the right way. "I know about the job, how it is performed and it's on my mind but you need to be ready for this. You can't expect to be given this role purely because you are an ex-player and United will make a mistake if they recruit solely on that basis."

Nemanja Vidic, Darren Fletcher and Peter Schmeichel have also reportedly garnered interest and former club captain Gary Neville has said that the fact that United are going after former players for the role underlines how shambolic the entire process has been.

“How can it be that four players that who have never been businessmen, never managed a club, never coached, never been sporting directors, are put forward for this amazingly difficult role at the most difficult team at the biggest club in the world?," Neville asked on Sky Sports. “It's a shambles.”