Omar Berrada has vowed that Manchester United will not be held to ransom or distracted by agents in the summer transfer window.
The United chief executive has instead insisted they will follow their recruitment model from last summer, where their signings helped a team who finished 15th in 2025 come third a year later and qualify for the Champions League.
United are set to start their summer buying with a £35m deal for Atalanta’s Ederson and will look to buy at least one other midfielder – with candidates potentially including Aurelien Tchouameni, Carlos Baleba, Mateus Fernandes and the Manchester City target Elliot Anderson.
Last year, United spent £200m on three forwards, in Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, but they all reached double figures for Premier League goals, while the rather cheaper goalkeeper Senne Lammens proved a bargain.
And Berrada said United have a strategy again, explaining: “I think the template of what we did last summer will be replicated.
“We have a clear plan. I do think what we saw last season is a good way forward for us, which is we want a mix of experience and youth, we want a mix of players who have demonstrated they can perform in the Premier League and perhaps also players who are doing very well outside the Premier League.
“But we will always do it within our terms, ensuring that whatever decision we take is not just for the short term, but also for the long term.
“We have to be really disciplined, it’s simple. We know what we can invest and we have to stick to that. It’s very important that you don’t let the market or the agents dictate what we should be doing.”
United laid off around 450 staff in two controversial rounds of redundancies after co-owner Sit Jim Ratcliffe began a cost-cutting exercise.
But Berrada insisted it had helped them recover and was a reason why they were able to spend last summer.
He explained: “We are in a much better place than we were 12 months ago. As a club overall, we are in a much better place. We had to take some very difficult decisions but ultimately those have allowed us to take the right decisions and put us where we are today, which is back in the Champions League.”
Berrada and director of football Jason Wilcox appointed Michael Carrick as head coach, after first choosing him to take charge for the final four months of the season.
And Berrada added: “I think he’s earned the right to continue leading the team over the next two years or more.
“I would describe him as somebody who is very calm but also very driven and I’m sure he’ll do everything he can, him and his staff, to make sure that we have a successful team next season and the year after that.
“I think when we look at the squad and what we’re trying to do over the next two years, he does bring the right attributes, the right ingredients, character, understanding of the club to help us navigate through the next steps of our journey.”
