With the weeks ticking down until the summer transfer window opens speculation is increasing as to who Manchester United are going to sign.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has already said he is helping the club plan for their summer spending spree despite not yet knowing whether or not he will be in charge at Old Trafford on a permanent basis next season.
And while plans are in already in place over who United want to land in the summer, executive vice chairman Ed Woodward needs to be focusing his attentions on off the pitch matters as well as on.
United need a more coherent strategy when it comes to recruitment.
Jose Mourinho was aggrieved he wasn't given the backing from the United board to land the players he wanted last summer but Woodward et al didn't deem the targets the Portuguese wanted worth the money their respective clubs were after.
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The pair clearly weren't on the same page when it came to what United need to get back to being title challengers.
Woodward is a savvy businessman but his view on United's signings seems to be focused on off-the-pitch commercial viability rather than the weaknesses of the team.
Hence why a director of football is needed to add a different dimension to United's recruitment strategy. Mourinho didn't want to work with one, but given the Portuguese departed in December the club have had three months to work on recruiting someone for that position ahead of the next transfer window.
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"With regards to the the director of football, lots has been written about this," Woodward said during the last United investors' call about the position. "I would say that looking at our structures and looking at how we should strengthen, all areas of the club is something we're doing on a continual basis.
"We've done a lot of changes within the football side in the last four or five years, in particular around the academy, where we've materially increased investment and we're seeing the quality of that now coming on.
"In regards to the overall structure, we are looking at that (the head of football role) and ways we can make it stronger and it is something we'll do on a continual basis."
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With Woodward overseeing United's recruitment it's likely the lure of the highly marketable Gareth Bale could come back on to his radar, similarly Antoine Greizmann, a popular figure on social media who United were interested in in 2017.
If United are to strengthen their squad properly they need a director of football to take charge of the recruitment strategy, no matter who they decide to give the permanent manager's job to in the summer.
But, the reality is United need a big and successful transfer window and if they're going to do that they could really do with making their director of football appointment before the window opens.
The clock's ticking.
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