Man United hire F1 guru who has never worked in football to lead data department | OneFootball

Manchester United have appointed a serial winner from Formula One as their new data guru in a bid to use AI to transform their fortunes.

Mike Sansoni, who contributed to eight world championship-winning seasons in an 11-year spell at the Mercedes F1 team, has joined United as director of data.

Sansoni, who has never worked in football before and was Mercedes’ senior performance engineer, replaces Dominic Jordan, who left United last year.

But Sansoni, who will report to chief executive Omar Berrada at Old Trafford, is known to United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe as Ineos have a minority stake in Mercedes.

United want Sansoni to use his knowledge of data and artificial intelligence to make a huge difference and, after making 450 people redundant, will appoint further people to his team.

They said: “He has been tasked with establishing Manchester United as a data-led organisation, embedding predictive and AI-driven decision-making across football and the wider club.”

United have also appointed former Channel 4 director Kirstin Furber as their new people director.

Furber, who has also worked for other broadcasters in BBC Worldwide and 20th Century Fox, has been on the board at British Wheelchair Basketball and the London Football Association.