Manchester United giants explain why transfers are stalled! Boasting that the Premier League can be won in 2028, the darkness is over

The Premier League's 2025/26 fixtures will be officially released on Wednesday. Manchester United chief executive Omar Berada insists that while the club has had the worst season in Premier League history, which he did not expect, he believes in manager Ruben Amorim and believes that a return to the Premier League title in 2028 is a task that "of course" can be done.

After Velarda took over, he retained his predecessor Ten Hag, but the result was so poor that United had to replace him with Amorim in the middle of the season. In the end, the team finished 15th in the Premier League, and with a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in the Europa League final, all hopes of winning the Champions League were dashed and completely lost.

Berarda admits to being shocked by the poor performance in the second half of the season, but he is convinced that the decision to hire Amorim was the right one and will pay off next season. The former Manchester City director told The Athletic: "We knew that bringing in Ruben [Amorim] in the middle of the season would make it more difficult for the team to perform. But the club sees it as a long-term investment for next season and we give Ruben time to get to know the team, the club and the Premier League."

The Red Devils' reasons for failure are high-sounding, but he insists it's not an excuse: "We have a very clear line. If Ruben had only been in charge since July 1, 2025, he wouldn't have mastered all of this knowledge now, right? That's how I feel about his seven or eight months in the Premier League and what he's been through. The team suffered losses but it will really help us in the future."

He also compared Pep Guardiola's first season in charge of Manchester City in 2016 to Amorim: "It's really similar, Pep [Guardiola] sticks to his principles, and considering the title he won, it amounts to a huge amount of money in the bank. But by his standards, his first year was below par. The club still supported him that summer and the team started to win the championship and created a winning cycle that has continued to this day."

Of course, even Berada has to admit that Manchester United's 15th place in the Premier League is worse than expected. "Of course, I didn't expect the team to be 15th at the time, which was never our goal. I think you may have underestimated the time it will take for the team to adapt to the new system, but we don't regret that decision because we are confident that we will see results next season."

The past season has seen Manchester United not only have a poor record on the pitch, but also off the pitch, with Sir Jim Ratcliffe making two cuts and more than 450 people losing their jobs, including a number of veteran Carrington and Old Trafford staff. This has left Rajue criticised, especially given the £20 million release money he wasted on Ten Hag and Amorim.

Berarda says it was a difficult decision but he believes it can make the club stronger. "The hardest decisions have been made, the worst bit is behind us, or will be after this summer. "We're still doing a second layoff, and it's definitely going to be very difficult to lay off people who have been here for years."

Last season, Manchester United only had 42 Premier League points, half as many as champions Liverpool! There is serious skepticism about the 2028 Premier League title targets set by Rajue and INEOS, which will mark the club's 150th anniversary.

But Velarda vowed that the team could quickly return to the top and win their 15th Premier League title. "Project 150 was conceived very simply. We will celebrate the club's 150th anniversary in June 2028, which is a major milestone in the club's history. So, we want to focus on achieving some goals during this time, and that's a time frame." Bellada said.

He elaborated on these goals: "The men's Premier League is back to winning the title, and the women's team is winning the women's Premier League for the first time. At the same time, we want to be one of the most commercially innovative clubs in the world, as we have done in the past, to be profitable. We've been a bit distracted recently by problems with the men's first team, but we're committed to making women's football a huge success. You should have heard Jim [Rajue] say that if you wear a Manchester United shirt, you have to win, and that's exactly how I feel. A club of our size has a responsibility to promote the full development of football and contribute to the cause of women's football."

Asked if this goal was too ambitious and unrealistic, Berada vehemently denied it: "If you ask me today, can the team win the Premier League title in 2028 or before? Of course! We've just finished in 15th place, which looks like an impossible task, but why not aim for it and do everything we can? There have been cases of teams turning things around, with some of the biggest clubs winning the Premier League or La Liga title despite their poor seasons. Overall, we need to set a set of goals within a specific time frame so that we can focus our efforts on achieving them."

Velarda was talking about what happened after he joined Barcelona in 2004. Born in Paris, France, to Moroccan parents but raised in the United States, Berarda moved to Barcelona at the age of 18 for his support of Barcelona. Later, he graduated from the European Business School in Spain and fulfilled his "Sona dream" as the club's marketing manager until 2011, when he moved to Manchester City.

When Berarda joined Barca, the La Liga giants were in a slump, but two years later they turned the tables and won the Champions League. He believes that if United can manage the transfer market well, it is possible to do so. He and his team have already signed Mateus Cunha from Wolves for £62.5 million this summer, and he was so pleased with that he even compared the 26-year-old to the legendary Eric Cantona.

'Cunha is a player I think the fans will like. "We can talk about his technical ability, he can play in three different positions. He's a playmaker, attacking midfielder who can score goals and assist. I think he'll make the fans jump out of their seats. He's a bit of a swagger and the fans are going to love him. Cantona-esque, I promise."

Berada has also promised that United will be active for the remainder of the summer transfer window. However, fans have seen that the recent deal to bring in Mbeumo has not been able to make a breakthrough, to which the Red Devils giant explained: "We will do our best to sign more players as soon as possible. Sometimes, when you seem a little sluggish, it's because you're negotiating and you want to make sure you're getting your money's worth. Therefore, being efficient or fast is not necessarily the best option for the club."

The Manchester United giant vowed to say: "We have taken every step this year to cut costs so that the club is in top shape. I'm confident that we're going to build a stronger team than we are and get out of this situation. We have set up a management team, a coaching team and a technical team. In football, we have a clear idea, what we want to do, what players we want to get, how we want to see how the team plays, how we integrate our academy players, how we invest in the talent of the future. I'm sitting here today, very optimistic and very positive about the future."

"I firmly believe we can win the Premier League in 2028," Berarda concluded, "and we have two or three summer transfer windows to rebuild the team and start fighting for the Premier League title. We'll all be happy if we can achieve that before then, and no one doesn't want to win the title before then. But we just set ourselves a goal, a specific timeline, to work on it. If you just said you wanted to win the Premier League, when was that? So, from the owner to the management to everyone in the club, we have a goal, a mission, and that's what we want to achieve."