Ed Woodward warns Manchester United’s transfer window will be not be ‘business as usual’

Speculation of world-record breaking moves ‘ignores reality’, says executive vice-chairman

Ed Woodward was not at home at the time (Getty)

Manchester United’s next transfer window will not be “business as usual”, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has warned, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

United have a long-established interest in Jadon Sancho and are understood to be leading the race to sign him from Borussia Dortmund, who were expected to demand a fee within the region of £100m.

Speculation also continues to link Harry Kane with Old Trafford, though the Tottenham Hotspur striker is thought to be lower down the list of priorities with an asking price of £200m.

Both those valuations are likely to fall significantly once the full extent of the pandemic’s impact on football is known, with all clubs expected to suffer substantial financial losses.

And Woodward has now poured cold water over suggestions that United will be able to spend hundreds of millions in the first window since the pandemic, whenever it may be.

“Nobody should be under any illusions about the scale of challenge facing everyone in football and it may not be ‘business as usual’ for any clubs, including ourselves, in the transfer market this summer,” he told supporters at a fans’ forum on Friday.

“As ever our priority is the success of team, but we need visibility of the impact across the whole industry, including timings of the transfer window, and the wider financial picture, before we can talk about a return to normality.

“On this basis, I cannot help feeling that speculation around transfers of individual players for hundreds of millions of pounds this summer seems to ignore the realities that face the sport.”

Woodward reiterated United’s commitment to playing the 2019-20 season to completion, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side in contention for a place in next season’s Champions League.

Uefa urged clubs and leagues to “explore all possible options” to finish domestic seasons on Thursday and suggested the use of “a different format” if needed in order to decide European qualification.

If seasons cannot be completed, national associations have been recommended to select teams for European competition based on ‘sporting merit’.

Woodward told supporters: “Like all of you, we are eager to see the team return to the field as soon as we are advised it is safe to do so, hopefully to complete a season which still held so much promise for us in the Premier League, the Europa League and the FA Cup when it was suspended.

“We are in constant dialogue with our governing bodies about when and how that will happen and we will continue to engage with this forum to keep fans consulted.

“And while it may be that games need to be played behind closed doors in the shorter term, we all recognise that football will not be fully back to normal until supporters are once again in attendance.”