Why Man United's summer business is a sign of positive change at the club

The point at which Manchester United knew they were making progress in the summer transfer window — the club’s first under the new leadership team put together by Sir Jim Ratcliffe — came in mid-July. With Matt Hargreaves, director of football negotiations, locked in complicated talks with Marseille over a deal for Mason Greenwood, United were also pushing ahead with an agreement to bring in Leny Yoro, the highly rated young French defender, from Lille.

In previous years, according to club sources, United would have focused on reaching one agreement before beginning work on another. But with Omar Berrada in place as CEO, Dan Ashworth as sporting director and Jason Wilcox as technical director — dubbed by some United fans as the footballing equivalent of The Avengers — an “expanded capacity” to complete deals began to pay off. It also led to United formally announcing agreements for both Greenwood and Yoro on the same day.

Instead of relying on a small group of key personnel, sources have told ESPN that a larger team of senior figures, which also includes Steve Brown, director of scouting, and Christopher Vivell, director of recruitment, meant United were able move more quickly in the market. It meant that of the five senior players signed this summer — Yoro, defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich, forward Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna and midfielder Manuel Ugarte from Paris Saint-Germain — only Ugarte arrived after the start of the Premier League season. Yoro and Zirkzee were signed before the start of the U.S tour.

With the deadline now passed, Ashworth says he “likes the squad” he’s helped to assemble. There’s an acceptance that the window didn’t go perfectly, but after worries at Old Trafford in late-May and early-June that the summer could turn into a disaster, it’s being viewed internally as a considerable win.

According to sources with knowledge of the meeting, Ratcliffe addressed staff in the run-up to the FA Cup final, where he admitted to frustrations that the recruitment operation was not “up to full speed.” Part of that, according to Ratcliffe, was down to the difficulty United faced in trying to get Ashworth released from his contract at Newcastle United, but staff left the meeting with the sense that United were well behind in preparations for what was a crucial window. A number of agents and intermediaries felt the same, and calls into the club were often met with the same response: “we’re waiting for feedback from INEOS.”

Sources close to INEOS have since told ESPN that it was a deliberate stalling tactic because there were a number of issues up in the air in the weeks after the FA Cup final. It wasn’t until June 10 — 16 days after the final — that Ratcliffe and Sir Dave Brailsford decided to keep Ten Hag as manager after a lengthy end-of-season review. It was another 18 days before lawyers working on behalf of United and Newcastle were able to agree an out-of-court settlement for Ashworth’s release.

Ashworth officially started work on July 1, while Berrada formally took up his new role two weeks later after fulfilling a period of gardening leave following his departure from Manchester City. By that point, work on the summer recruitment drive had already kicked into gear.

Sources have told ESPN that Brown started detailed conversations with agents in mid-June to lay the groundwork on potential deals for a number of different targets. Agents were told that a centre-back to replace Raphaël Varane was the priority, followed by a striker to replace Anthony Martial. Zirkzee was identified as the top target to replace Martial with Ivan Toney (Brentford) and Jonathan David (Lille) also on the shortlist. It was eventually decided that Toney was too expensive, but David — who would have cost a maximum of £25.3m — remained a live option right up until Zirkzee was signed.

“We’d already lost two or three key players; Varane, Martial and [Sofyan] Amrabat had all gone, so there was a centre-back, a central midfielder player and a centre-forward were the key, and we felt we probably would need another centre back as well,” said Ashworth.

“They were the four key positions we really wanted to strengthen in this window and we’ve done that. By bringing in Zirkzee, bringing in Ugarte, bringing in Yoro and bringing in De Ligt, so that was the fundamentally, as I walked in, the pre-agreed positions, partly because of the exits and partly because of the view they were areas we wanted to strengthen our depth and quality.”

United’s firm stance on price — something Berrada insisted upon — ended the interest in Toney early on. It also meant walking away from a deal for Jarrad Branthwaite. The club’s price-point analysis had Branthwaite’s value at between £50m and £60m. Everton quoted £75m, citing Josko Gvardiol — another left-footed centre-back of similar age — as their marker.

Gvardiol moved to Manchester City for £77m in 2023, but Berrada saw Branthwaite at a level below when factoring in the England international’s relative lack of experience. For example, Gvardiol had already played in the Champions League with RB Leipzig and was one of the stand-out young players at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Sources told ESPN that Branthwaite would have been signed if Everton had reduced their demands, but United were not prepared for negotiations to drag and so decided to move on.

Of the five senior signings made this summer, United only paid the full asking price for Yoro.

“We were quite disciplined about the valuations we were giving to the players who were going to come in,” said Berrada. “We stuck to those valuations. The reason I mention that is if you make a mistake and over-spend, or get a player who can cost you too much, it can set you back.”

Sources have told ESPN that there are concerns at United about the ongoing financial impact of the deals that yielded Antony and Casemiro. Both were signed toward the end of the 2022 summer window after United had started the season with back-to-back defeats to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford, and there’s a feeling within the club that the ensuing panic contributed to ill-thought out agreements with Ajax and Real Madrid. United were initially quoted around £40m for Antony, but with Ajax holding all the cards in negotiations towards the end of the transfer window, ended up paying more than £80m.

In contrast, sources close to United’s recruitment operation believe that the discipline shown regarding Branthwaite eventually helped get a deal over the line for Ugarte.

With Paris Saint-Germain holding out for a fixed fee of £50.7m, United made a point of referencing their interest in Branthwaite and threatened to walk away just as they had done with Everton. Conversations with Amrabat remained active right up until the last minute to ensure they would get a holding midfielder through the door even if the move for Ugarte collapsed. In the end, PSG accepted a fixed fee of £42.2m plus add-ons, fearing they could otherwise be left with a player they didn’t want.

With valuations set by Berrada, the high-level discussions with clubs and players were handled by Ashworth. Hargreaves would then take charge to oversee the line-by-line negotiations.

“We need to be doing more of what we have done in this window,” said Berrada. “We have addressed priority positions that were identified very early on and we were able to do it in a financially sustainable way. I think Dan and the team did a fantastic job in the negotiations process.”

Departures were key, too. Of the 32 transfers completed by United in the window, 13 were player exits including midfielder Scott McTominay, defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka and forward Jadon Sancho. For only the second time in the past decade, the club were able to recoup fees in excess of £80m in a single summer.

Sources have told ESPN that there was a split about whether McTominay should be allowed to join Napoli for £25m. Ten Hag was keen to keep the midfielder after he served a key role as an impact substitute last season, but the Profit and Sustainability benefit of agreeing a deal for an academy graduate was deemed too good to turn down.

Fees for academy graduates are recorded as pure profit in the books, something United exploited with McTominay — and a key reason why Chelsea sanctioned the departure of Conor Gallagher to Atllético Madrid. United insist they are compliant with PSR despite posting a loss of £113.2m in their latest financial results, released on Wednesday.

“Sometimes you have to be quite brave and make decisions that maybe you don’t want to make,” said Ashworth. “But you can’t have a bloated squad, and you’re also dealing with players that ultimately want to play football. So you want to make sure that the squad is lean, but you have enough depth.”

“The financial rules have, unintentionally, made it slightly more attractive to sell players with a ‘zero-book’ value,” said Ashworth, “which is consequently either players you sign on a free or players that come through your system.”

Sources have told ESPN that analysis revealed there wasn’t much between Wan-Bissaka and Mazraoui, but replacing one with the other made broad financial sense. In the same way, United were also open to offers for Christian Eriksen and Casemiro even though both are expected to get opportunities to play this season.

“I think where we stand today you see lots of turnover in the squads and in order to be able to stay within the financial regulations, to make the investments we want to make and strengthen the key positions, you have to sell,” says Berrada. “And the process for selling is very similar to the process for buying. You have a framework, you know what you are trying to achieve. It also has to make sense for the club, it has to make sense obviously for the player who is leaving, and if you stay within those parameters and you are decisive, then generally you get it right.

Mazraoui has also worked with Ten Hag before and although decisions on recruitment are made by committee these days at United, Ashworth accepts “it’s human nature” for the Dutchman to favour players he knows.

“There is a natural sway because you know that person, because you know that player, but also we’ve signed a number of players this summer that haven’t worked with Erik previously,” says Ashworth. “He’s worked with Matthijs and Nous previously. They were both on our radar, and it’s a joined-up decision on who comes in and out of this football club.”

Sources have told ESPN that despite the arrival of Berrada, Ashworth and Wilcox, Ten Hag’s influence on recruitment hasn’t been watered down and his role remains the same as it was when he arrived from Ajax in 2022. But having retained some control, he needs to back it up with results on the pitch, and there’s an acceptance that results and performances like the one against Liverpool won’t be tolerated indefinitely.

Berrada and Ashworth are backing Ten Hag, for now, but it’s noteworthy that the decision to extend the Dutchman’s contract was taken in June before they took up their new roles. For United, it’s still being viewed as a transitional period.

After being parachuted in at relatively short notice, Ashworth’s focus has been on first-team transfers rather than anything more in depth. He was only able to hold one Microsoft Teams meeting with senior scouts during the summer, and couldn’t get to meeting academy scouts until the day after the window closed.

With the first summer window in the rear-view mirror, the long-term goal is to revamp the entire recruitment structure by making more appointments around Ashworth and Wilcox. The hope is that by adding further “expertise and knowledge” over time, future windows will become smoother and more successful.

“I think anybody who has worked in football for a long time could tell you that it’s almost impossible to put a timescale on it,” says Berrada. “It’s been demonstrated. When you look at the teams who have been successful consistently for many years, it’s because they have the right coach, they have signed the right players, they have the right structure around the coach and the players. You need to take good decisions consistently for many years to get into a position where you are a financially sustainable club that is competing to win every single competition.

“We don’t want to just win one Premier League and then be satisfied. We want to create a team that is capable of competing on a consistent basis.”