Germany's expertise and experience in player recruitment will complement the work of the newly appointed Technical Director Jason Wilcox.
Manchester United plan to appoint former Chelsea technical director Christopher Vivel to assist with the club's recruitment efforts for a short period of time during the summer transfer window.
Vivel built his reputation at Red Bull Group as head of scouting at Salzburg and later as technical director at Leipzig and is expected to join United on a work permit.
Although the initial contract will be short-term to help with the summer window, United's new management, under co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, have not ruled out extending his tenure as they look to build up their football operations.
Vivier will work closely with technical director Jason Wilcox and newly appointed director of football Dan Ashworth, with chief executive Omar Berada overseeing their work as United look to end a decade of poor recruitment.
The 37-year-old German was placed on a gardening holiday by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in July last year and has only been working for seven months under the regrouping of Paul Winstanley and Lawrence Stewart.
Manchester United believe that Vivier's expertise and experience in talent identification and player recruitment will provide a valuable addition to Wilcox and Ashworth as they expand their football operations.
Vivier also has experience working within a multi-club owner group, an area that Ratcliffe and his team hope to explore.
He joined Red Bull Salzburg from Hoffenheim in 2015 and spent five years at the Austrian club, during which time he was involved in the recruitment of Erling Haaland, Benjamin Sesko and Dominic Szoboszlai. He joined Leipzig in August 2020, during which time the club signed Gvardiol, Mohamed Simakan and David Raum.
Ratcliffe already owns the French club Nice and the Swiss team Sporting Lausanne. The INEOS billionaire said last month that INEOS had "no plans" to sell Nice, raising the possibility that Nice could actually become some sort of talent base for Manchester United.
He said Nice could use France's position in the EU to sign emerging players under the age of 18 from overseas, something that United could no longer do after Brexit.
Manchester United are working hard to sign Dutch defender De Ligt from Bayern Munich. Bayern want to get at least €50 million (£43 million) plus plenty of add-ons.
Here's a look at the top five player profiles we've looked at over the past two days, and those findings should get you excited about the upcoming summer
Upamecano
Many of Vivel's success stories have come from his time at Red Bull Salzburg, essentially charting the path for the players who passed through their system.
Upamecano was signed by Vivel for Red Bull Salzburg FC Levling (Austrian Super League), another club owned by Red Bull, where he flourished and eventually moved to RB Leipzig.
His upward trajectory continued, and he caught the eye of Bayern Munich, where he was given a preferred position.
From joining FC Levling in 2015/16 to eventually making over 100 appearances for RB Leipzig before moving to Bavaria, his development path has been a true success story for Vivier and the team. But he's not the only one.
Benjamin Sesko
If Upamecano's path is straight up, Vivel's handling of Sesko shows resilience when the growth curve isn't straight.
Under Vivel's leadership, Sesko joined RB Salzburg in 2019 at the age of 16, but it was clear to all that he needed more game grinding.
He spent two years on loan at FC Levling and started his professional football career in a remarkable way, scoring 21 goals in 29 appearances in his second season.
As expected, Salzburg recalled him and he got off to a fast start after some early difficulties before moving to Leipzig.
Rumours of his departure have been swirling and Sesko has become an ideal case for planning a player's development plan. Vivier has received a lot of praise for this.
Karim Adeyemi
There are even more names on this list, and soon we will see one of the loudest, but Adeyemi is perhaps the epitome of Vivier's greatest achievement in the field of scouting.
Adeyemi moved to Red Bull Salzburg for almost £8 million in the 2018/19 season from Andahgs Youth Football Club in Germany's third tier.
Such a fee is largely unheard of for a player from the third division, but the scouting system is about to add a huge success story.
He followed Sesko's path and joined FC Levling for two seasons, where he flourished, before returning to Red Bull Salzburg.
Adeyemi's performances in Austria were so good that he skipped the usual 'next step' development and opted instead of joining RB Leipzig to join Borussia Dortmund.
He featured for them in the Champions League final recently, and his pace has given Real Madrid some nightmares.
Nicholas Sewald
Unlike the other players on the list, Vivel did not find or recruit Sewald, as the player was already in the academy in Salzburg when he arrived.
However, this is a case of Vivier planning and developing a player's gradual promotion, even though the player was not signed by him himself.
Sewald had been at the academy in Salzburg since he was 8 years old in 2009 until 2019, when he was deemed ready to play in senior football, joining FC Levling.
Three years at Levling and then another three years at RB Salzburg prepared him for joining RB Leipzig last summer.
An outstanding debut season has already put him on the radar of a top club, which is a testament to the right planning and implementation of the player's development path.
Erling Haaland
Who else? While Haaland's success story is an obvious example for Vivier and the Red Bull scouting network, it is perhaps the biggest affirmation of their operation. Brother Hay: But, do you want to thank Woodward for refusing, and he was still in Modelso when he called?!
That's because, unlike most of the players on the list, Haaland was already a recognized talent, a chosen prodigy, when he joined Red Bull Salzburg.
Vivier and his team skillfully presented their vision and plans to Haaland, which led Haaland to choose them over other clubs competing for his signature.
He grew so quickly that he skipped not one, but two steps of the "Red Bull system" – the loan of Levling and Red Bull Leipzig.
His dominance in Salzburg's only full season prompted Dortmund to spend heavily on him. Since then, he has changed teams but has never stopped scoring.