Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward has declared that it may not be “business as usual” for the club in the summer transfer market.
Woodward explained this at a Manchester United Fans’ Forum held remotely via a conference call on Friday.
He added that he does not expect any “normality” in the market because of the scale of the challenges facing the entire football industry due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“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,” Woodward said.
“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,” he explained.
Woodward also revealed that Manchester United remains committed to completing the 2019/20 football season if possible, while also giving his backing to the possibility of fixtures being played behind closed doors if required.
“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,” he revealed.
“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 recognize that football will not be fully back to normal until supporters are once again in attendance,” he concluded.
Manchester United were in fifth place in the Premier League standings and still in the running in the FA Cup and the UEFA Europa League before all competitions were suspended as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
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