'It's not hard to see why Freedman would appeal to Man Utd'

Alex Howell, BBC Sport

Billionaire and founder of Ineos Sir Jim Ratcliffe is set to complete his purchase of 25% of Manchester United.

It has been reported Ratcliffe wants to assume control of the football operations side of the club and names have started to be linked with a sporting director role at United - one of them being Crystal Palace's Dougie Freedman.

It is not hard to see why Freedman would appeal to United. The signings of Eberechi Eze, Michael Olise, Joachim Andersen, Marc Guehi and Cheick Doucoure have all been for relatively low fees and all are worth more than the club paid for them.

Olise and Eze have recently signed new long-term contracts and that type of deal protects the club and their value. This brand of thinking in particular makes him an attractive option for a club like United.

Freedman's success in the transfer market is in part down to the way he scouts talent and he is currently in Indonesia at the Under-17 World Cup trying to pick the next young player to make their mark at Selhurst Park.

He travelled to Brazil to watch summer signing Matheus Franca play for Flamengo, before the club opted to sign the 19-year-old this summer for a deal in the region of £20m.

Freedman also managed Palace and understands the club. He is one of the longest-serving sporting directors in the league, having been in his post for over six years, and can point to a number of successes.

During that time, Palace have built a new academy which he was involved in the planning of, created a pathway for one of its graduates in Tyrick Mitchell to become a mainstay of the first team and sold Aaron Wan-Bissaka for £55m to the Red Devils.

It may be a name out of the blue for some United fans, but Freedman is a shrewd operator and Palace supporters will be hoping the links with the Manchester club are just rumour.