The initial decision was, in part, so he “could watch good football” at Barcelona while graduating, which he did in 1999 before meeting his future wife at a first job, for the telecommunications company Tiscali. From there Berrada was recruited to be Barça’s head of sponsorship in 2004. He was informed on his second day that Catalan was the club’s “official language” – so he learned it.
Seven years later, City headhunted Berrada to take charge of international development. He became chief operating officer in 2016 and when United hired him in January he was working, as he had been since 2020, as COO for the 12 teams under the City Football Group umbrella.
Berrada’s departure for the fierce rivals across town came as a bombshell, the Observer has been told by a person familiar with the City executive. Berrada was instrumental in building the super-slick operation at the Etihad Stadium but faces a mammoth challenge at United, according to Stefan Borson, a former financial adviser to City.
Borson points first to how Berrada has to manage a multitude of potential chiefs: Ratcliffe himself; the Ineos owner’s two key lieutenants, Sir Dave Brailsford and Jean-Claude Blanc; and the six Glazer siblings, the majority owners who are headed by the Florida-based executive co-chairs, Joel and Avram.