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Jose Mourinho will have plenty of money to spend in the summer
Manchester United executive chief Ed Woodward says the club are looking to strengthen – although not in the numbers of recent summers.
Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann – who has an £86m buy-out clause – is understood to be United’s top summer transfer target.
And as United announced a profit of £36.7m for their second quarter financial results, Woodward said they will be active in the market again this summer after a £150m-plus spend last year on Paul Pogba, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly.
"Are we happy with the roster at this point?" said Woodward, speaking in a conference call with the club’s investors. "Yes. I think there's a happiness from the manager at this point, as you can tell in all his recent interviews, in terms of where we are as a squad.
"I think there is always going to be continual improvement. Even if you win everything, you still want to improve the squad, that's the nature and the dynamic of the industry we're in.
"But I think we aren't in a position where we necessarily have to 'churn' a large number of players. As I've guided before, we want to get to a more steady state, and be buying and selling a potentially lower number of players each year.
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Jose Mourinho didn't look too excited as he was driven to Carrington
"I think we're in that kind of environment now, compared to where we were two or three years ago, when perhaps there was a bit more of a 'churn' required from a playing squad perspective.
"We don't guide around player spend. It's a number you can track almost on a deal-by-deal basis, because things are very widely published when they happen, but it isn't something that we guide on."
United recouped nearly £50m in the January transfer window – money which will be put towards summer spending.
"The January transfer window was relatively quite for us, aside from the sale of two first-team players – Morgan Schneiderlin to Everton and Memphis Depay to Lyon," Woodward said.
"It was also a generally quiet window for our Premier League peers. In fact, it was the first window when Premier League clubs reportedly recorded an aggregate transfer window profit."
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Antoine Griezmann is Manchester United's top summer target
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Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin were sold last month
United's debt now stands at £409.3m, a rise of 27.1 per cent, with the increase being blamed on the pound collapsing in its value againast the dollar in the wake of the Brexit vote
The club's total revenue for the last quarter was £157.9m, an increase of 18 per cent, with an operating profit of £37.6m, up 15.3 per cent on the previous figure.
Despite the absence of Champions League football this season, United brought in £52.5m revenue from broadcasting, with an additional £38.6m coming in from home games.
With United still in the running in all four competitions they entered, Woodward expresed his satisfaction with the progress made under Mourinho and said there was “a buzz” around the club.
And he expects “a strong finish to the season” acomment that will be widely interpreted as securing, at least, a top four place in the Premier League and qualification for next season’s Champions League, a competition Untied have not played in in two of the last three seasons but is vital to revenue and prestige.
“These revenue numbers are particularly pleasing given the negative impact of non participation in the Champions League," he said.
“On the pitch we remain involved in all competitions and have qualified for the EFL: Cup final where we meet Southampton at Wembley on February 26 – our third visit to Wembley in 12 months.
“We have also progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup where we face Blackburn and the last 32 of the Europa League where we face St Etienne.
“With 14 more League games left – just over a third of the season – we are approaching the business end of the season and look forward to a strong finish.”
Woodward revealed that United are also launching a new MUTV app, which will be available globally – although not in the UK – later this year, in more than 160 countries around the world.
Woodward said: "We're planning to launch an MUTV app, in territories where where the competition and partner rights allow us to do so. The app will be a paid, premium-content product, with pricing ranging from £1.49 to £4.99 a month.
"It will include access to a continuous live stream of Manchester United's 24-hour television channel, access to a continually updated, on-demand library of topics, documentary box-sets, studio shows, recent matches, highlights and classic matches.
"The app cannot go into the UK, because of the deed of licence restrictions with the Premier League. So it's not in the UK, and it's not in many countries worldwide where we have sponsorship deals in existence with partners who can utilise exclusive content within those territories.
"But it is still going to 160 plus countries around the world, so I think the way to look at this is of course we believe the mobile and the content side of this business will grow over the years to come."
Woodward revealed that United's 0-0 draw with Liverpool at Anfield back in October attracted Sky's biggest UK TV audience for three years while the return fixture at Old Trafford was the most-watched Premier League fixture in the US.
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