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As has been rumored for months, it looks as though the move of D.C. United chief operating officer Michael Williamson to Inter Milan is slowly reaching its inevitable conclusion. Since the transfer window has opened throughout Europe, Inter Milan fans have become angry with owner Erick Thohir over a lack of moves, which seems to have pushed the move of Williamson to Inter ahead a littler faster. It looks like he may arrive in Italy as early as next week, but will be there on a permanent basis starting in mid-February.
Williamson will come to Inter not only as the CFO, but he looks set to become Thohir's representative in Italy, just as Jason Levien is his representative in the United States.The move also looks to settle irate Italian fans, especially those who think that Thohir has not yet paid enough attention to the team. If you scour the internet for D.C. United rumors, as I do, you will have seen plenty of Inter fans on Twitter yelling at Thohir with some variation of "This is not D.C. United, this is Inter!"
However, should this move go through, it would leave United without a team president, a role that has been vacant since Kevin Payne left the team, and without a chief operating officer. I will be interested to see who they get to run the business side of the team on a day-to-day basis, while Levien is working on finishing the stadium deal (and running his other team). I would expect this person to be a business expert, rather than a soccer expert, and would think that they would be in place before the season begins.
