Ed Woodward signed his honest part of the flops during his fateful government as Manchester United Executive Vice chairman, but after his failed spell was particularly targeted
Ed Woodward believed that the acquisition of Bastian Schweinsteiger of Manchester United 2015 “would send shivers to the spines of rivals”, only for the player to become a sensational flop. Woodward joined the Old Trafford board of directors in 2012 as executive vice-chairman, before taking the role of CEO of David Gill the following year.
And while the now 53-year-old wanted to hit the ground with regard to the welcome of new faces in the Red Devil team, many of his transfers completely missed the goal. For example, Woodward was at the helm when Paul Pogba 'returned to United in August 2016 from Juventus in a gigantic deal.
Of course Pogba came through the youth system on United in 2011 before he came to the Serie A -Standsteig for a reported £ 1.5 million the following year. But four years later, the fault of their roads, the Red Devil's board chose to bring it back to Old Trafford for a world record costs of £ 89 million.
However, Pogba then returned to Juventus on a free transfer in 2022, so he had not even reduced a fraction of the reimbursement they had spent on returning their Academy graduate back to the northwest of England six years earlier. Pogba was just one of the many expensive signing sessions during the time of Woodward in the club that did not meet expectations.
Woodward was also at the helm when Schweinsteiger arrived from Bayern Munich in 2015 in a £ 6.5 million deal, a movement that looked on paper as a stem for the 13-meal Premier League winners.
After going by the Bavarian Youth System in 2002, Schweinsteiger spent 13 years with Bayern and lifted eight Bundesliga titles, nine domestic cups and a Champions League. He also managed 121 caps for Germany and lifted the World Cup 2014 before he was appointed team captain after the retirement of Philipp Lahm of International Football.
Given his wealth of experience at the highest level, Woodward went so far that he claimed that Schweinsteiger rivals would vibrate in their boots if they would rise against the Maestro of midfield shortly after his arrival in England. He was quoted at the time: “It is fantastic to see such a player coming to Manchester United.
“He is our very first German, and what a German – he has won absolutely everything and comes here with a fantastic experience. When people see Bastian on the team magazine, it will send some shivers over the back.”
The reality, however, is that Woodward may have set unreasonable expectations of the star, given how his term of office actually played at the Premier League giants. During his first season with United, Schweinsteiger spent more than 130 days offside due to injury.
And when Jose Mourinho took the strings of the Louis van Gaal club in the spring of 2016, he made it clear that Schweinsteiger was not part of his plans in the future, where the player was degraded to train with the U23 setup in a movement for which he had serious criticism and that he was a great mistake since then.
Schweinsteiger only played 35 times for United in the course of his two-year-old Stint with the club before going to MLS-Outfit Chicago Fire in 2017. There he scored eight goals and created 11 assists in 92 outings before he retired in 2019.
In the meantime, Woodward announced in 2021 that he would resign from his position at Manchester United. He separated roads with the club on February 1, 2022, but has since returned to work, after he was appointed to the Board of Directors of Bloomsbury Football Foundation last year.