Man Utd summer recruitment focused on the 'young and hungry'
Marc Skinner lifts the lid on what motivated United Women's recruitment strategy ahead of the 2024/25 WSL season.
Manchester United made a choice to do something different during the summer transfer window market, spurred on by a desire to get back into the WSL top three after an alarming slump in 2023/24.
Mary Earps moved on because she didn’t believe, at the age of 31, that she had the time to wait for the next United project to come to fruition. Katie Zelem became a free agent at 28. Nikita Parris was sold at 30. In contrast, the majority of those coming in have been significantly younger.
Of the new faces to join the squad since last season, Elisabeth Terland is 23. Celin Bizet is 22, Anna Sandberg is 21 and Simi Awujo will celebrate her 21st birthday in the coming days.
Even Melvine Malard, for all her experience at the highest level, has not long been 24.
The club haven’t always been able to get the best out of established players in the past. But some of the very best recruits over the past few years have been signed young and developed under the United badge – think back Ona Batlle, Alessia Russo and now captain Maya Le Tissier.
Grace Clinton arrived as a teenager in 2022 and, after 18 months on loan, looks like she is about to have a huge role in the forthcoming campaign.
The club specifically wanted young talent again this year and went for it.
“Where we looked at making gains in the market was looking at the right players at the right age that can grow with this team over a number of years,” Marc Skinner explained on the eve of the season.
“It was clear that for us to break into that historical top three [again], we have to go a different route. So we’ve gone down the young and hungry route that’s highly talented.”
The general perception of United when Earps, Zelem and Lucia Garcia departed was doom and gloom, especially when those that have been brought aren’t huge names…yet. Retired midfielder turned pundit Izzy Christiansen suggested this week that some of the response has been unfair.
“I think what they’ve done in the summer in terms of recruitment has been misunderstood a little in the media,” Christiansen put forward on Sky Sports’ Three Players and a Podcast.
“I think they’ve actually done some really smart business. Bringing in Terland, a player I think is quality, I really rate her,” she added, highlighting United’s newest goal threat.
But squad building is about balance too and the recruitment department led by Harvey Bussell, now into his second year in the job, saw an opportunity to capture elite experience when Dominique Janssen was leaving Wolfsburg.
Compared to her fellow signings, the Dutch defender is the outlier at 29 but will quickly fulfil a senior leadership role within the squad. She made an impression on Skinner with what he describes as her “aura” and Christiansen considers the free transfer a “really smart bit of business” too.
“I wouldn’t say she’s an ultimate technician or an absolute world-beater, but I think she is a proper good club player who knows what it takes to win,” Christiansen explained. “She brings in that mentality, a wealth of experience and she’s versatile as well.”