Manchester United director of football Jason Wilcox has opened up on the club’s transfer approach in the summer window
Manchester United’s director of football Jason Wilcox insists the club has put an end to the hectic nature that previously surrounded their transfer strategy, while maintaining that Senne Lammens’ signing was not a desperate last-minute signing..
Following their failure to qualify for the Champions League, United’s strategy for the summer window shifted. With a reduced budget, the Red Devils needed to operate with precision.
The primary focus was strengthening the attack, leading to the signings of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko. United’s transfer activity appeared complete until Andre Onana’s performance against Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup.
In the aftermath, Lammens was swiftly recruited and Onana was sent on loan to Trabzonspor for the campaign. The Belgian has subsequently established himself as United’s number one and has won over the supporters, reports the Manchester Evening News.
In an interview with the Inside Carrington podcast for MUTV, Wilcox provided some fresh insight into United’s transfer strategy going forward. “Last year’s summer window was a lot more chaotic than this one,” he said..
“This one was really calm, we knew the plan, we knew which players we were going to target, we had our lists, we knew which areas of the pitch we needed to improve. These are continuous meetings between myself and Ruben [Amorim] with Chris Vivell and his team underneath.
“We are very clear on the profiles that we need. The brief will come from myself and Ruben, it goes into Chris. [There is] a lot of debate and discussion around the profiles of what we need and then the scouts will go into the market.
“We combine that with the data team and there will be constant dialogue. Right now, I am having weekly meetings with the recruitment team of the profiles, the age bracket, the cost, are they attainable with Ruben as well. It is a really joined up approach.
“When we sign a player, there is so many people involved in the process. The data team are involved and then we will focus all of our attention on certain players and it is really important that we do our background checks around whether they are clean living professionals – this is really important.”
Looking back on this summer’s transfer activity , Wilcox insisted that the decision to bring in Lammens on deadline day wasn’t a reaction to Onana’s performances, something with the United’s director of football has dismissed.
“This year we looked at Premier League ready players,” Wilcox said.
“Certainly with Bryan [Mbeumo] and Matheus [Cunha], we couldn’t take too much risk in this area and we needed players we could plug in and play with little transition time. Senne we were always looking at goalkeepers who have huge potential and Senne was available so we decided to move. It wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction.
“Tony Coton was putting this guy on my radar 12 months ago and he was relentless with it. He said he was going to be a top signing for us.
“He has started well but he has got to keep it going. He is very reflective, very professional in his approach.”