Sir Dave Brailsford has reportedly come up with an ambitious plan to restore Manchester United's former glories, having invited a former Liverpool ally to lend assistance.

The INEOS chief is said to be taking a more hands-on role at Old Trafford in the wake of Dan Ashworth's exit as sporting director in December.

The plan has been dubbed Mission 21 and will aim to deliver a 21st league title to United in the coming years, according to The Times.

It is said that Brailsford has devised the blueprint with the help of James Morton, a professor of exercise metabolism at Liverpool John Moores University and the former head of nutrition and physical performance lead at Team Sky.

Morton oversaw the nutrition strategy for the riders when they dominated the Tour de France between 2015 and 2018. He has also worked for Liverpool in the past, serving as the club's performance nutritionist between 2010 and 2015.

The report states that Brailsford and Morton laid out their Mission 21 blueprint to senior United staff at the end of last year. They also presented their ideas for Mission 1, the plan for the women's team who are hunting their first Women's Super League title.

Both plans reportedly sit under the broader Project 150 initiative, the brainchild of United chief executive Omar Berrada, which is linked to the club's 150th anniversary in 2028.

It remains to be seen if Mission 21 will be a success, with United looking miles away from winning another Premier League title any time soon.

They are currently languishing in the bottom half of the table, having won eight and lost 11 of their 24 league matches so far this season.

Gary Neville recently claimed that United will inevitably win the Premier League again at some point, believing the Red Devils are too established to slip away into obscurity.

"As sure as the sun will rise, Manchester United will start to win again, it’s a fact," he told the PA news agency last year. "When that is, I don’t know. It can be no guarantee, but I know that these things go in cycles.

"I lived my whole childhood watching Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal win trophies, win the old Division One. I had to wait until I was 18, 19 when United first won a league title in my life. Then we won a load of league titles and now we’ve not won one for 10 years."