Ed Woodward Discusses Manchester United Finances, Transfer Plan in Investor Call

Manchester United’s chief executive Ed Woodward has revealed the club will continue to spend big money in the transfer market, although he is happy with the part youngsters are playing in the squad at the moment.

Woodward was speaking on an investors’ conference call on Friday, lasting 16 minutes, and had to field a selection of questions about goings on at the football club, per Rob Dawson and Samuel Luckhurst of the Manchester Evening News.

One of the areas that seemed to please him the most was the youthful streak to the team, with players like Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford blossoming under the guidance of manager Louis van Gaal.

Woodward expressed his delight that they’d be involved in the FA Cup final on May 21, per James Robson of the Manchester Evening News:

He also revealed there will be new faces coming into the club in the summer as the team seeks to challenge for top honours again, per Luckhurst:

While it’s a young squad, it’s also one that has been assembled lavishly. Martial, for example, became the most expensive teenager in the history of the game when United landed him ahead of the campaign.

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

The previous summer saw the Red Devils splash big money on Angel Di Maria—a British-record sum—before moving him on to Paris Saint-Germain after a solitary season.

Woodward outlined the reasoning for such substantial outlay as of late and an intriguing diagnosis of how things will pan out in the future, per Martyn Ziegler of the Times:

"

Woodward says transfer spending high due to squad "re-tooling" - "Things will stabilise in coming few years + then be lumpy thereafter." Eh?

— Martyn Ziegler (@martynziegler) May 13, 2016"

Naturally, plenty of pecuniary points were discussed by the chief executive in the call, with Credit Suisse analyst Omar Sheikh asking how things would be affected should United miss out on the UEFA Champions League for what’d be the second time in three seasons, per Dawson and Luckhurst.

Woodward confirmed there are financial pitfalls of failing to mix it among European club football’s elite for next term and what would be the result of non-qualification for two seasons on the bounce, per Rob Harris of the Associated Press:

Per BBC Sport, United confirmed a third-quarter revenue on Friday of £123.4 million despite on-field inconsistencies, an increase of 29.9 per cent. It means the club stands to make up to what’d be a record £510 million for the calendar year.

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As reported by Dawson and Luckhurst, there was also no mention whatsoever of Van Gaal in the call, with his position under major scrutiny despite the club’s run to the FA Cup final. Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has been strongly linked with possibly taking over in the summer, per Sky Italia (h/t Mark Critchley of the Independent).

Luckhurst posted the following on Twitter implying Woodward was doing well not to touch upon the managerial situation:

At the moment, the club looks in extremely good shape off the field and much of that is due to the work of Woodward. Indeed, earlier this year, it was noted by James Whaling of the Daily Mirror that United has a whopping 70 commercial partnerships in place, and that’s reflected in its impressive revenue.

The club can still qualify for the Champions League next season should Van Gaal's men win against Bournemouth and local rivals Manchester City lose to Swansea City on Sunday. However, it’s looking unlikely.

That’ll be a clear concern to the club from a financial standpoint, especially since the whopping kit deal with Adidas, worth a massive £750 million over 10 years when struck, would be affected.