Manchester United director of football Jason Wilcox has lifted the lid on the recruitment process at the club, noting that they are focussed on high levels of professionalism.
Wilcox joined the Red Devils in April last year as part of the restructure led by Jim Ratcliffe and his INEOS team.
The 54-year-old had coached for a number of years in the Manchester City academy and then taken the role of director of football at Southampton.
This came after a playing career which saw him win the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers, earn three England caps and also turn out for Leicester, Leeds and Blackpool.
It’s fair to say that Wilcox’s first summer transfer window at the club was mixed, with the likes of Joshua Zirkzee, Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui arriving.
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He admits the summer of 2024 was somewhat chaotic, but the latest transfer window was much more structured and the arrivals of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Sesko and Senne Lammens all look positive.
Wilcox notes that it is far from just the quality of player they are looking for in the transfer market, but ‘clean-living professionals’ are vital.
‘Last year’s summer window was a lot more chaotic than this one,’ Wilcox said on the Inside Carrington podcast. ‘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,” he said.
‘Right now I’m having weekly meetings with the recruitment team on the different profiles, the age bracket, the cost, are they attainable… with Ruben [Amorim] as well. It’s a real joined-up approach when we sign a player. It’s so many people that are involved in the process. The data team are involved in the process.
‘We will then focus all our attention on certain players, and it’s really important that we do the background checks around are they clean-living professionals? This is really important.’
He added: ‘When I look now and I see the car park, the report time is at 9.45am, you see the lads coming in at 8.30am, 8.45am, preparing for training. This is a good sign.’
Whether it is in January or next summer, Manchester United are expected to look to strengthen in central midfield, after being heavily linked with Brighton’s Carlos Baleba in the last window.
The Seagulls were not interested in selling 21-year-old and suggested it would take at least £100m for the Red Devils to get him, so any potential move evaporated.
Man Utd's 2025 summer signings
Matheus Cunha from Wolves – £62.5m
Diego Leon from Cerro Porteno – Up to £7m
Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford – Up to £71m
Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig – Up to £73.7m
Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp – £18.2m plus add-ons
In an interview with The Argus, Brighton chairman Tony Bloom explained how the interest quickly disappeared, saying: ‘I don’t think Baleba was a saga.
‘There was interest from Manchester United, and we said that he wasn’t available this summer and they went away.
‘So we’ve had many bigger sagas in the past.’