Manchester United have made a key appointment to help with recruitmentplaceholder image
Manchester United have made a key appointment to help with recruitment | Manchester United via Getty Images
Man Utd have hired a new head of senior scouting who will start his role early next year.
Manchester United have hired Kyle Macaulay as their new head of senior scouting, with the 39-year-old set to start in his role from 5 January 2026. United began their search for the recruitment role back in July as part of their restructuring and attempted modernisation of the scouting network.
Macaulay emerged as the preferred candidate for the United role after he left West Ham in October, shortly after close friend Graham Potter was dismissed by the London club. They first worked together at Swedish club Ostersunds in 2012, where Macaulay spent six years as chief analyst during their remarkable rise from the fourth tier to knockout stages of the Europa League.
He also worked with Potter at Swansea as chief scout and followed him to Brighton where he worked as head of scouting, during a period in which they signed Leandro Trossard, Moises Caicedo, Kaoru Mitoma and Marc Cucurella. He then joined him at Chelsea in a chief analyst role and remained at Stamford Bridge under both Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Maresca before they reunited at West Ham at the start of the year.
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What Macaulay appointment means for United recruitment
The appointment of Kyle Macaulay is another important step for Manchester United as they attempt to modernise their scouting network.
The overhaul of their recruitment department is aimed at creating 'a more lean, agile and efficient set-up' after United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe believed the club had previously hired too many scouts. It was only in recent years that United cut their number of scouts from 140 down to 80, a figure Ratcliffe still believed was too high. Former director of scouting Steve Brown was one of those to lose his job earlier this year, while emerging talent lead scout David Harrison also left.
Macaulay will work under the director of recruitment, Christopher Vivell, with whom he previously worked at Chelsea. Vivell's role was made permanent in February, and he himself reports to the director of football, Jason Wilcox.
United have split their scouting department into a senior section, which will be overseen by Macaulay, and an emerging talent section, which is also split into United Kingdom, European, and international categories.
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