Man Utd chief who has earned the club £100m quits to join Premier League rivals
Academy chief Nick Cox is set to join Everton to oversee first-team recruitment having overseen period at Man Utd's academy where sales of young players is estimated at £100m
Manchester United are poised to lose academy chief Nick Cox to Everton in a further blow. The Merseyside club are in advanced talks to appoint Cox as their new technical director with a deal expected to be completed imminently.
Cox has been in charge of United's academy since 2019, a spell that has seen more than two dozen players including Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo graduate to first team debuts, while a host of young players developed under his watch have been sold on for an estimated £100m in profit.
Cox moved to United in 2016 after spells in the academies at Watford and Sheffield United. But he is now set to make the leap to first-team football and would oversee recruitment during an exciting period at Everton.
He will remain at United until a replacement is found and despite Cox's amicable departure, a hectic summer is expected at Old Trafford on the recruitment front.
It has already begun following Matheus Cunha's £62.5m arrival from Wolves, while Eintracht Frankfurt forward Hugo Ekitike and Brentford star Bryan Mbeumo remain high on the wishlist.
Yet United have been clear for months that outgoings are a must to fund new arrivals and there is still no clarity on where Marcus Rashford, Antony, Garnacho and several others will be playing once the recruitment window closes on September 1. None of those are in head coach Ruben Amorim's plans.
Senior men Christian Eriksen , Jonny Evans and Victor Lindelof are to be joined by Hubert Graczyk , Jack Kingdon , Sam Murray , Tom Myles , James Nolan and Tom Wooster in being released at the end of their contracts on June 30.
The entire squad is available for the right price but there are several who clearly have no roles to play under Amorim.
Rashford shone in parts while on loan at Aston Villa and has been linked with a switch to Barcelona but only a select few clubs can afford his £1m a month salary. Similar is true of Antony, who did well at Real Betis. Except the La Liga club cannot afford the Brazilian's wages either.
Garnacho, meanwhile, was supposedly told to find a new club after a row because he was left on the bench for much of the nightmare Europa League defeat to Tottenham last month. Veteran midfielder Casemiro is welcome to find a new club, so too flop striker Rasmus Hojlund because he is yet to adapt after two full seasons up front.
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