Brailsford, who helped lead British cycling to multiple gold medals in the Olympics under Ineos, will take a seat on the board alongside Jean Claude Blanc.

Cycling journalist Daniel Friebe spoke to Sky Sports about Brailsford’s quality and recalled one particular anecdote about Ferguson.

Sir David Brailsford, pictured giving Newcastle players a motivational talk in July last year

Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly gave the 59-year-old a crucial piece of advice a decade ago

Friebe said: ‘I remember talking about conversations he’d had with Sir Alex Ferguson.

‘This is going back maybe 10, 15 years. I think one of the things that Ferguson used to say that Dave definitely retained was: “Get rid of the disruptive influences, get rid of people who aren’t working in the same direction as you”.

‘Dave, as far as I could see, really assimilated that. And that was one of the pillars of the team’s success, knowing when to get rid of people, knowing when people were not on the same page as you.

‘Speaking with physios, mechanics, that is something that happened at Team Sky. They wouldn’t necessarily do anything egregiously wrong, but Dave would get to a point and think, ‘This person is not for us anymore,’ and out they would go.’

The £1.3bn deal is still subject to approval by the Premier League, a process which could take a few more weeks, but United said in the interim ‘the Ineos team are meeting people from across the club to understand the performance challenge and how they help return United to the top of English, European and world football.’

Sir Alex Ferguson pictured with Brailsford during United’s defeat to Nottingham Forest

Sir Jim Ratcliffe (left) and Sir Dave Brailsford (right) chat to Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag during their tour of the club’s Carrington training complex on Thursday

Brailsford and Ratcliffe met a number of first-team players, including striker Rasmus Hojlund