Manchester United Reportedly Trail Barcelona in Race for Director Target Monchi

Manchester United are reportedly at risk of missing out on AS Roma director of football Monchi and trail Barcelona in their hunt, with the former Sevilla supremo's family said to be hoping for a return to Spain.

Monchi spent 17 years at Sevilla in a director capacity before joining Roma in the summer of 2017, but Corriere dello Sport (h/t TalkSport) reported Barcelona hold the edge as things stand.

It's mentioned that it would take a "huge offer" for the Premier League club to convince Monchi to move to England. 

Monchi is revered in his sector of football, responsible for sourcing new talent and developing those already at his clubs, helping increase player value and selling those talents on for big profit.

The issue in joining a club of United's stature is that the format is different. Clubs will negotiate differently with such a titan of the sport, and so there's a risk the methods that worked for Monchi elsewhere won't be effective at Old Trafford.

Sportswriter David Amoyal recently hinted at this potential pitfall and why Monchi's formula may not translate: 

United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has acted in what would be most closely described as a director role at United since the summer of 2013, when Sir Alex Ferguson retired from management.

The Scot took a hands-on approach to all aspects of the club and was responsible for much of United's success because of his rare talent in shaping their fortunes, one area of which was in the transfer market.

James Robson of the Evening Standard recently reported Atletico Madrid sporting director director Andrea Berta and Juventus' Fabio Paratici were also being strongly considered for the position.

Barcelona are commonly positioned as one of the European powers that can challenge United for the top signings, but now it seems the Blaugrana are in line to poach Monchifrom under their noses.