Ed Woodward’s ‘unwanted contract offers’ has been blamed in part for Manchester United’s bloated roster and current turmoil.
Following a mixed start under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, United’s locker room is said to be divided at the moment, with a slew of senior figures dissatisfied with their limited roles at Old Trafford.
The onus will be on newly-appointed chief executive Richard Arnold to help clean up the wreckage that Ed Woodward, who is putting the finishing touches on his departure from the club, is about to leave behind.
Woodward’s part in United’s current problem has been explored by The Athletic, who claims that while he ‘distanced himself from making football judgments,’ he made ‘countless calls that had an impact on United’s results.’
The Atheltic’s Laurie Whitwell wrote in her article:
“Woodward’s strategy for awarding new contracts to players in the (misguided) belief it would protect values has left a bloated squad and several on the fringes unhappy. At times Rangnick has taken training for 26 players — there are 29 senior professionals on United’s books, not including the seven out on loan — and he is said to have found motivating them all difficult at times, given in each game almost a third will not be involved.”
One such example is Woodward’s ‘wasteful strategy’ of providing new contracts to less-used players in order to protect their value, which has resulted in United’s bloated roster.
His baseless decisions to give new contracts to players like Phil Jones, Juan Mata, and Eric Bailly have left the Red Devils with an excess of talent on the bench, with interim manager Rangnick apparently struggling to manage an oversized team.
Jesse Lingard and Donny van de Beek are among the players looking to go after a lack of opportunities, with the latter starting just four Premier League games since joining for £35 million from Ajax in 2020.
Rangnick has apparently decided that Van de Beek is ‘ill-suited to the physicality of the Premier League,’ claiming that despite his ‘beautiful’ touch, he struggles to cover the ground’ in training.
After making a profit on only five players in the previous decade, the new leadership will place a bet on improving the transfer strategy. United has struggled to emulate the success of rivals Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool in selling unwanted assets for large sums of money.
According to the article, while Woodward was active in the club’s transfer activity, Arnold is expected to take the front seat, delegating control to director of football and technical director John Murtough and Darren Fletcher, respectively.
