MANCHESTER UNITED’S recruitment team has been given a boost after snapping up one of Lewis Hamilton’s right hand men at Mercedes.
Michael Sansoni formerly worked as the seven-time world champion ‘s performance engineer at Mercedes.
He has now switched to Manchester United as their new director of data and is giving the club’ s approach to player recruitment a makeover.
He has already helped with the transfers of Matehus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
Sansoni first linked up with Merc in 2014, juggling a number of roles at the team including senior performance simulation engineer.
He was then promoted to Hamilton’s trackside performance engineer for the 2023 season.
Sansoni spent two-years working alongside the British 40-year-old before they parted ways.
He helped Mercedes to eight constructor’s titles and Hamilton to six driver’s titles.
A third of Toto Wolff’s team are are owned by Jim Ratcliffe through his INEOS petrochemicals company.
A United statement read: “Reporting to Omar Berrada, chief executive, Sansoni will be responsible for transforming the club’s capabilities in data and artificial intelligence,
“Drawing on his experience in machine learning and advanced modelling in Formula 1 ,
“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.
“To support these objectives, further recruitment is planned into a number of data, software and platform engineering roles in the coming months, as Sansoni builds out his team.”
In a LinkedIn post, Sansoni suggested that Cunha and Mbuemo who cost a combined £133.5million, were identified as a result of his data-led efforts.
He wrote: “I am very lucky to have had not just one, but two dream jobs. After a phenomenal time in Formula 1, it is a privilege to now be part of the biggest club in world football.
“Over the past few months, we have already made meaningful progress. With new methodologies starting to take shape and two fantastic signings, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, already reflecting some of that early work.
“I have inherited a brilliant team: smart, committed, and hungry to make a difference and together we are building a world-class data and AI function to power decision-making across football and the wider club. The challenge is great, but so is the opportunity.”
