Was Criticism of Manchester United Chief Ed Woodward Wide of the Mark All Along?

If they are valued at over £30 million, chances are Manchester United have been linked with a move for them at some point over the past three years. The Old Trafford club has become a staple of the transfer window gossip column.

With January upon us, the rumour mill has started churning once again.

Enough time has elapsed for Man Utd’s signings in the summer transfer window to be reflected upon. In the region £150 million was splurged on three players—Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly, while Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived on a free—and with such hefty price tags come hefty expectations. 

The players have justified the money spent on them, though. Ibrahimovic has scored 17 goals for the club, with Pogba key to United’s recent turnaround, Mkhitaryan finally finding his groove and Bailly already a natural leader at the back. It’s a stark contrast to the club’s transfer window fortunes in recent years.

In the post-Sir Alex Ferguson age, United became the epitome of the Premier League’s waste culture, splashing cash on players without much in the way of an overriding strategy. Angel Di Maria arrived as the most expensive signing in English football history in August 2014, then left just one season later. Marouane Fellaini was signed on summer deadline day in 2013 for £27.5 million after a summer of missing out on top targets. Radamel Falcao was another signed to a big contract, albeit on loan, only to leave as a big failure.

Time and time again, they got it horribly wrong in the transfer market.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward bore the brunt of the frustration over United’s wastefulness in the transfer market. He is the man charged with pushing through transfers at Old Trafford, so when the right signings failed to materialise, he was the one to blame. But was that entirely fair? Does their glowing success in the 2016 summer transfer window prove Woodward wasn’t to blame?

The transfer market success enjoyed under …

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