Jean-Claude Blanc is the Harvard graduate nicknamed the ‘Lionel Messi of sports business’… the son of a dentist turned Juventus around after a match-fixing scandal and made PSG a flawed powerhouse – now Man United want him as CEO

As far as testimonials go, few compliment Jean-Claude Blanc more than the words of Fabrice Boquet, CEO of Nice.

“He’s a bit like the Lionel Messi of the sporting world,” he said L’Equipe.

‘It’s not just a matter of expertise, but also of interpersonal skills. He brings his vision, his network, his tranquility, his experience.’

“Stoic” is a word that sticks with Blanc, a character who can be too “respectful” at times, but one who has a track record of taking over messy situations and delivering greatness.

“He is extremely competent and embodies everything I like on a human level, with real values,” Nice President Jean-Pierre Rivère once said. ‘He is open-hearted, modest, efficient and pleasant in everyday life. Jean-Claude meets all requirements.’

The question for Manchester United fans is does he tick all their – many – boxes?

Blanc (right, with his wife Stephanie) has been called the ‘Lionel Messi of the sports world’

United have been in disarray both on and off the pitch this season and are now looking for a CEO

United have started implementing the changes ahead of Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £1.25 billion investment, with the club announcing the departure of CEO Richard Arnold on Wednesday.

United’s top lawyer Patrick Stewart will take over on an interim basis, along with one of Ratcliffe’s key aides, Ineos Sport CEO Blanc, who is seen as a potential permanent replacement.

That’s why people outside France – Blanc is based in Monaco and manages INEOS’s sports portfolio – are trying to better understand the man who looks set to take charge of returning Manchester United to its former glory.

Blanc, the son of a dentist and a stay-at-home mother, who is now married to partner Stephanie and has two children, led a quiet life growing up in Savoy, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, until he was 18.

Blanc never traveled and instead decided to study for a future in business.

In 1985, at the age of 22, Blanc pursued a master’s degree for a management degree in international business and marketing at SKEMA business school.

Blanc was incredibly motivated to work on the 1992 Winter Olympics, which were to take place in Albertville, Savoy.

Approaching the organizers got him nowhere.

Blanc (centre) is a trusted ally of Sir Jim Ratcliffe (right), who is buying 25% of Man United

Richard Arnold’s departure as CEO is an early sign of the shake-up Ratcliffe will undertake

“Come back in a year,” they told him. So Blanc headed to Los Angeles to try to track down the organizers of the highly profitable 1984 Games. It didn’t take long for him to succeed.

“I wasn’t a bad tennis player, so I played tournaments,” he told the BBC Financial times in 2015. ‘Through tennis I met the people who organized the Olympic Games in Los Angeles.’

Doubles matches soon produced impeccable connections and LA would be where he would meet his business mentors: Jean-Claude Killy and Alain Krzentowski.

Blanc returned to Savoy full of insider knowledge and immediately got a job. He had his foot in the door.

Performances with the Tour de Francethe Paris Dakar, the French Open and the Davis Cup would follow in later years, coupled with an MBA obtained from Harvard Business School in 1994.

His journey in football feels long and winding.

After graduating from Harvard, he joined Amaury Sport in France, which managed major sporting events. From there he moved to the French Tennis Federation (FFT) in 2001.

Blanc, father of two children, Eléa and Hugo, transformed the success of the French Open after being promoted to CEO.

His innovative ideas – including adding an extra weekend to the Slam by starting on a Sunday instead of a Monday – dramatically increased commercial success.

Ratcliffe’s deal for 25 percent of United is £1.3 billion and he will lean on INEOS colleagues

But Manchester United fans will be most interested in his footballing achievements and how he fared at Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. The results should get United fans excited.

Blanc joined Juventus in 2006 with the Old Lady on her knees after relegation to Serie B.

A match-fixing scandal – the infamous Calciopoli case – left Juventus at rock bottom and Blanc, who arrived as the new CEO, was tasked with turning them into a powerhouse again.

“We want to become the Ferrari of Italian and European football again as soon as possible,” he declared upon arrival.

“You have a mountain of problems to tackle at once,” Blanc told the FT. ‘Practically a hundred days will determine the future of the club. If you make a bad decision in those 100 days, it’s over. Then it would take twenty years to return. We made a lot of good decisions in those hundred days.’

In the beginning, the fear surrounding Juventus made the staff feel unsafe. Blanc reportedly lived with a bodyguard for 18 months.

Convincing star players like Gianluigi Buffon to stay was one of them, but Blanc was quickly able to renegotiate major business deals and quickly improved the club’s financial position, securing Juventus an immediate return to Serie A.

Appointed chairman in 2009, one of the best parts of his legacy was the delivery of the Allianz Stadium.

Blanc opened in 2011 and played a crucial role in creating a new stadium that suits a club like Juventus.

It was the first stadium built in Italy since 1990 and, at the time of its arrival, was the only stadium privately owned by an Italian football club.

His work at Juventus had not gone unnoticed, especially in France.

Erik ten Hag has had to weather a series of storms at the club since his appointment in 2021

Ratcliffe was accompanied by INEOS sporting director Sir Dave Brailsford (on his right) and CEO Jean-Claude Blanc (front row, second right) to attend Nice’s 1-0 away win over Monaco in September.

Leonardo, who had met Blanc when the Brazilian was working for AC Milan, wanted him at PSG. Leonardo will handle the football affairs and Blanc will turn PSG into a commercial beast with the support of Qatari Sports Investments (QSI).

He spent 12 seasons at PSG, where he oversaw 28 trophies, including eight French Ligue 1 titles.

His departure was described as a ‘bomb’ that ripped out the club’s ‘soul’. According to reports in France at the time, he was one of the few men at PSG that no one would speak ill of.

“The last twelve seasons have been a great professional adventure and I am proud to have helped Paris Saint-Germain become the international sporting power that it is today,” he said upon his departure.

‘During this period, PSG won an impressive 53 trophies across the football and multi-sport sectors, whilst becoming one of the most successful premium sports and lifestyle brands in the world.

“I would like to personally thank PSG President and CEO Nasser Al-Khelaïfi for his great leadership, trust and friendship. I wish the entire PSG family the best of luck in the next phase.”

He left for Ratcliffe. He left for INEOS.

That could mean he leaves Monaco for Manchester and takes up the mantle left by Richard Arnold.

United are struggling both on and off the field. On the pitch they are a long way from their rivals, while off it Old Trafford lags behind the elite stadiums of others.

A calm and collected figure seen as the ultimate problem solver – in 2000 he was in crisis management when a terrorist threat threatened to thwart the Dakar Rally in Niger, forcing him to organize the airlift of 150 rally cars to Libya – he may well could be the perfect steady hand to get United back on track.

Blanc has a proven track record of inheriting messes and delivering quality both on and off the pitch