‘PL-ready players…’: Wilcox drops major hint over who Utd might sign in Jan as ‘weekly meetings’ taking place

Jason Wilcox has sat down with Manchester United’s club media to provide some insight into what’s going on behind the scenes at Old Trafford.Wilcox was appointed Technical Director last April amid Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s substantial shake-up of the Red Devils hierarchy.It came after INEOS’ 27.7 per cent stake was finally ratified by the Premier League, giving the new part-owners the freedom to take charge of the real nitty-gritty, day-to-day operations.INEOS facilitate a high-spend summer (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)Despite United failing to secure European qualification last season, they were still able to oversee a busy summer window on both the incoming and outgoing fronts.Around £89 million was made through player sales, with the likes of Alejandro Garnacho and Antony departing, while over £200 million was shelled out to bolster Ruben Amorim’s squad.This included an entirely new frontline, consisting of Bryan Mbeumo, Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha.Of the trio, it’s safe to say Mbeumo has had the biggest impact.The former Brentford talisman has returned five goal contributions (four goals and one assist) in his first 10 top-flight appearances in red, including the opener of United’s emphatic 2-1 triumph at Anfield in late October.While he’s only found the back of the net once thus far, Cunha has also been an influential addition to Amorim’s ranks – a real breath of fresh air after several years of floundering forwards.Wilcox details INEOS’ thinking behind Mbeumo and Cunha signingsWilcox touched on the importance of signing the two 26-year-olds, who were already Premier League-proven at the time of their arrival in M16.“This year, we looked at Premier League-ready players and certainly with Bryan [Mbeumo] and Matheus [Cunha], we couldn’t take too much risk in this area,” he said. “We needed players that we could plug in and play, with little transition time.”“Right now, I am having weekly meetings with the recruitment team on the different profiles, the age bracket, the cost, that they are attainable, with Ruben as well, so it is a really joined-up approach,” Wilcox added.“When we sign a player, there are so many people who are involved in the process. The data team are involved in the process, and we will then focus all our attention on certain players.“It is really important then that we do the background checks on whether they are clean-living professionals. This is really important.”