On the same day the Philadelphia Union announced the hiring of Rene Meulensteen, the club also revealed their desire for a sporting director.
But, much to some people’s surprise, Meulensteen will not be that guy.
Instead, the former Fulham head coach and Manchester United assistant will serve as a temporary consultant for the Union with one of his responsibilities being to help the club bring in someone else that will oversee all soccer operations.
“Long-term, we want a sporting director for the structure in place – really to help with both our youth development and first-team side to bring us a global perspective, as well as a way to really elevate the entire soccer operations of the Union,” majority owner Jay Sugarman said in a press conference from PPL Park on Friday. “We’re fortunate that despite other commitments, Rene is available to us right now as a consultant to help analyze, advise and to look at everything we’re doing and help us really set a path for the next five years.
“We’re going to spend a lot of the time over the next couple of months making some key decisions for the coming years and we wanted a top-tier talent with us when we’re making those decisions.”
Meulensteen, who spent 12 seasons at Manchester United, could certainly be described as a top-tier talent. But even he admits that helping an MLS team will be a “challenging” venture for him as the Union brace for a busy offseason that includes many different drafts that he’s still learning about.
“My main assistance is where to look for new targets, players maybe we want to bring in for me to evaluate him and to say, ‘That’s a good player, go for him’ or ‘I wouldn’t do that’” Meulensteen said. “But we learn as we go along. I knew that right from the start.
“But let me say that MLS is a growing, emerging market. For me, it’s a great opportunity to learn so much more and help the Union make the next steps.”
Sugarman didn’t put a timetable on when the club would hire a permanent sporting director but did say that he’s “committed significant resources” to the position. In the meantime, newly minted head coach Jim Curtin and technical director Chris Albright will handle the personnel decisions while leaning on Meulensteen for some support – a combination that Sugarman called “pretty darn powerful.”
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“In the short time here, he met with my technical staff and implemented his idea of a way of targeting, judging players and a clean-cut way of determining if he’s an academy player or a first-team player,” Curtin said. “So it’s something that we want to use now. He’s hit the ground running and he’s a resource that we have now that is connected internationally, knows players, knows the network and is learning our league quickly.”
Sugarman didn’t specify how long Meulensteen would remain with the Union, saying only that “it’s certainly not years and it’s not weeks.” But no matter how long it ends up lasting, the longtime English Premier League coach has big plans for the Union, specifically the team’s ever-growing youth academy under director Tommy Wilson.
“This will become the envy of America,” Meulensteen said. “I’ll tell you that now.”
Dave Zeitlin covers the Union for MLSsoccer.com. Email him at djzeitlin@gmail.com.
