Manchester United Vice-Chairman Speaks Out on Transfer Failures; Moyes

Ed Woodward said Manchester United dealt with Wayne Rooney 'in exactly the right way'. Photograph: Matthew Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

The Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has spoken for the first time about the club's activity, or lack of it, in the summer transfer window, explaining that the perceived failure to land Cesc Fábregas became public because of the way Barcelona operate. He also insisted United dealt with the Wayne Rooney situation in "absolutely the right way".

"With Fábregas that was an approach specific to the selling club," he told the fanzine United We Stand. "They have an ownership structure that means there has to be debate before a player is sold.

"It was disappointing that we didn't sign more players, but I always knew it was going to be a tough window. We had a manager leaving and a manager arriving on 1 July. As a club, we didn't want to impose a plan on the new manager that had come from the old manager.

"We have a manager who we want to give our full support to, to make his own decisions about players and about the academy. We knew we had a truncated window with less time to operate.

"The early view was that we needed a central midfielder and a left-back, that was David's [Moyes] view too, but he also wanted to spend some time with the squad. There wasn't a long list of players he wanted to go after – it was a unique window. We had to make certain one-off decisions.

"The Wayne Rooney situation was another unique one. It was important from day one that we made our position very clear. I am delighted that he is still wearing red, because at the time I just wanted to click my fingers and for it to be 3 September. Rooney is irreplaceable and phenomenal to watch."