Manchester City have handed Manchester United one of their “best January signings”, Rio Ferdinand reveals

Manchester United have secured ‘one of their best January signings’ from neighbours Manchester City, former England international Rio Ferdinand has revealed.

It was confirmed over the weekend that the Old Trafford club had secured the services of Manchester City executive Omar Berrada to become their new CEO, with a start date to be revealed in due course.

Berrada had been integral to Manchester City and the City Football Group’s development as an organisation through a variety of different roles, having first joined the Etihad Stadium project back in September 2011 in the role of Head of International Business Development.

Leaving the club this week from his role of Chief Football Operations Officer for both the wider Group and Manchester City, and working alongside the likes of Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano, it is a loss viewed as significant by those within the club, despite work continuing as normal without too much greater concern.

Speaking on the Vibe With Five Reacts podcast this week, Rio Ferdinand revealed that figures within Manchester City simply cannot believe that their most bitter rivals have managed to recruit such a key figure within the Etihad Stadium boardroom and City Group project.

“I spoke to some guys who are at City and they can’t believe we’ve got him,” the former Manchester United defender revealed.

“They think that, wow… He’s done so much in the game at different levels and he’s been successful, and he’s a really good, sharp signing for us.”

He continued, “I think this could potentially be one of our best January signings, from the current climate at where we’re at now especially.”

At present, it remains unknown what Manchester City will do with regards to replacing Berrada within their operation, however there is a strong possibility that an appointment from within the club could take place due to an existing figure having the pre-existing know-how of their organisation.

Omar Berrada was integral to a number of Manchester City’s transfer pursuits over the past few years, working closely with sporting director Txiki Begiristain and offering insight on the financial and numbers aspects of agreements.

Most notably, Omar Berrada was personally involved in the deal that took Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City in 2018, while also working heavily with Begiristain on the groundbreaking deal to sign Erling Haaland from Borussia Dortmund in 2022.