FORMER Manchester United chief Tom Keane has lifted the lid on the club’s record-breaking 2022 summer transfer window.
Keane was their head of negotiations as they splurged a club high of £225million on six new signings.
Tom Keane has lifted the lid on Man Utd’s summer 2022 transfer business@WeAreTheOverlap
Antony was bought in a mega £85m deal
The purchase of Casemiro cost a whopping £70mGetty
In Erik ten Hag’s first window at the Old Trafford he bought Antony (£85m), Casemiro (£70m), Lisandro Martinez (£57m), Tyrell Malacia (£13m), Christian Eriksen (free) and Martin Dubravka (loan).
Keane, who was only at United on a temporary basis for six months, played a huge role in talks and even flew to Spain to complete the Casemiro deal.
Opening about where it went wrong that summer, Keane told The Overlap: “There were a couple of challenges. One of the biggest was everyone was new.
“I’d just walked through the door, the manager came in in May, John Murtough had been at the club a while but had just become football director, Richard Arnold had just become CEO and there was a new head of data.
“The way it would normally work is the transfer window shuts and in September they start planning for the following summer.
“What happened for us that summer, I think because of circumstances, the work started in May.
“It felt like we did a year’s work in 12 to 16 weeks.
“I literally lived at the training ground and I didn’t see my family, which was fine as I knew what I was getting myself into and it was part of the experience.
“The budget side of it, the finance department had oversight of everything that was going on to ensure the club was remaining compliant with its PSR obligations.
“In terms of negotiations, the process was really detailed and it had to be.
“Big sums of money, so the stakes are high and with football players you are signing humans.
“You can’t guarantee anything and all the work is trying to minimise risk. You’re trying to improve the chances of the signing being a success.”
All those involved in that transfer window like Ten Hag, Murtough and Arnold have since left the club.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has built his own team that involves CEO Omar Berrada and technical director Jason Wilcox.
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