Man Utd: Julien Laurens slams Ed Woodward's transfer strategy
Manchester United chief Ed Woodward was warned about signing players for Louis van Gaal when the Dutchman was in charge, reports say. The duo worked alongside each other at Old Trafford between 2014 and 2016.
According to the Evening Standard, United scouts warned Woodward about striking deals for targets Van Gaal put on the table - because they weren’t suitable for the club.
Yet despite being warned, the Red Devils supremo would, more often than not, choose to back his manager anyway.
Van Gaal was given plenty of support from the United hierarchy when it came to transfer deals during his two years at Old Trafford.
But some were better than others.
In his first season at United, the Dutchman landed Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Marcos Rojo from Southampton, Athletic Bilbao and Sporting Lisbon respectively.
Man Utd chief Ed Woodward was warned about Louis van Gaal transfer targets (Image: GETTY)
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And United made Anthony Martial their club-record signing, paying £36million to sign the forward from Monaco.
Ultimately, many of Van Gaal’s signings didn’t live up to their expectations.
And it speaks volumes that, of all the players the Dutchman signed during his reign, just Shaw and Rojo remain.
Meanwhile, speaking earlier in the year, the former United boss slammed Woodward - saying he knew ‘zero’ about football.
“At Bayern, the people in charge are football men. I always appreciated that,” he said.
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“At Manchester United, on the other hand, Ed Woodward was installed as CEO – somebody with zero understanding of football who was previously an investment banker.
“It cannot be a good thing when a club is run solely from a commercially-driven perspective.