Manchester United head coach Marc Skinner says that the club must pursue world-class talent in the transfer market to build on this season’s successes.
The Red Devils continue to challenge for a maiden Barclays Women’s Super League title while they will contest their first-ever Vitality Women’s FA Cup final next weekend.
With the standard in the Barclays Women’s Super League set to increase again next season and Manchester United likely to be competing in European competition, the club will need both quality and depth in their squad. When speaking about the club’s future recruitment, head coach Skinner said that Manchester United need to challenge to sign the best players in the world whilst developing their own stars for the future.
“It’s getting that difficult now,” Skinner said when speaking in a Manchester United press conference. “I think we are entering the pool where it is really elite level that we need.
“The whole reason why I’ve added Evie (Rabjohn) in is that you need the continuation of that development throughout your team. You can just get to a point where they’ve all moved and then all of a sudden, you have to restart over again.
“We are trying to add the threads throughout but the reality is that we are going to have to recruit. I think we’ve been looking at that standard of player (elite level) anyway for the last few years building towards European football, winning the league, winning a cup. Whatever that success looks like, we have to be recruiting; we have to be in for the best players in the world, that’s only what I’d expect for our team and our fans.
“My expectation is that I want to work with the best players. We have players that can make the world-class jump and all they need is the exposure, a little bit of influence and a bit of time. I believe that we will be able to grow the right sprinkling of world-class talent and they will then help the rest to grow into world-class talent too.”
Skinner went on to say that Manchester United’s continued success can only be driven with financial backing, however, he feels that everyone is pulling in the same direction.
He said “We can’t do without that (investment), this is a club that wants to continue to do that (build on success). I’m seeing growth within our team, I’m seeing growth within our club and I’m seeing the willingness to do that.
“There’s still an education in women’s football about the levels that we have to go to and I don’t mean that about our board because they help us gather information and drive the direction. It has to be (continued investment) and I think they know that; the club are absolutely fully aware of that and are onboard with it. That’s the way it is going.
“We have a wonderful ability here with the coaching staff that we have and the way that we are to develop world-class talent, as well as buying it, but we have to sprinkle it with the right players at the right times. We have world-class talent now and world-class talent in the making here.
“It’s exciting but we have to keep looking at recruiting the right players to keep driving us on because it is only going to get more difficult.”
Manchester United’s next fixture sees them take on Tottenham Hotspur at the Leigh Sports Village on Sunday afternoon.