Ironic Ed Woodward comments show Manchester United are failing their women’s team

In March 2018, Manchester United announced their intent to launch their first Women’s Super League team – and just five years later, two of their star players have left on free contracts.

When Manchester United first announced their intention to form their first-ever Women’s Super League side, many welcomed the addition but also commented that it was long overdue.

Initially entering the competition in the second tier of the competition, it took just one season for the squad to gain promotion from WSL2 to the top tier.

Most recently, the 2022/23 season saw Marc Skinner’s squad involved in a title race that went to the final day, with the club missing out on the top spot by just two points, being pipped by Chelsea for a margin of just two points.

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The season has ended on a sour note though, with both Alessia Russo and Ona Batlle leaving the club on free deals after United failed to offer them deals soon enough.

Multiple reports have explained that although acceptable contracts were offered to both players, the contracts came too late in the season and were therefore rejected.

Batlle shall be signing for Barcelona, with Russo’s future up in the air – although the latest reports indicate that she may be signing for Arsenal, who offered a world-record bid for the player in January.

“The Manchester United women’s team must be built in the same image and with the same principles as the men’s first team and offer academy players a clear route to top-level football within the club,” were the words of Ed Woodward in 2018, when the formation of the women’s team was first announced.

And he was right… but not in the way that anyone hoped. Manchester United are starting to create a pattern across both the men’s and women’s teams of offering contracts way too late.

A few examples from the last decade in the men’s team include Jesse Lingard, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba, and now David de Gea – all players that the club wanted to keep, yet simply failed to offer the right terms at the right time.

There is no doubt that United would have wanted to keep Russo and Batlle – with both players just 24 years of age, their primes are well ahead of them, and other clubs will now reap the rewards of what United developed.

Manchester United, just five years after they created their professional women’s team, are failing them – and if something does not fundamentally change, the whole project may collapse.