Manchester United chief executive Omar Berrada has said the club will not be blackmailed in future transfer deals because a bad deal can “set you back”.
In the past, United have been accused of paying players too much, both in terms of transfer fees and wages.
During the first summer window under the new management team (of which Berrada is a part), United spent around £200m ($221m) on five new players.
Berrada said the club was “disciplined” with the fees paid for new players, although he also highlighted the dangers of making the wrong deals.
“We were able to do it [the summer window] in a financially sustainable manner,” Berrada said.
“We were pretty disciplined with the ratings we gave to the players who were coming in. We stuck to those ratings. I think [sporting director] AND [Ashworth] and the team did a fantastic job in the negotiation process.
“I say that because if you make a mistake and spend too much or sign a player who is going to cost you too much, you can lose. So you have to be able to make those decisions and make the right ones consistently over time to be in a position to win consistently.”
As well as five new players, United have also approved the departure of several first-team members, including Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Scott McTominay.
Sources have told ESPN that some members of the club had reservations about letting McTominay leave for Napoli. However, Ashworth said it was part of his job to make difficult decisions.
“You have to be very brave and make decisions that you might not want to make,” she said.
“But you can't have a bloated squad, and you're dealing with players who ultimately want to play football. So you have to make sure that the squad is small but has enough depth.
“The schedule, especially with the new Europa League format, is quite demanding. That's why we want to make sure we have enough depth so that we don't have a bloated squad and can keep players motivated and convinced that they have a chance to play. If you play with too big a squad, it can cause problems. That's why you sometimes have to make brave decisions about that.”
Jadon Sancho was another of the senior players allowed to leave after joining Chelsea, initially on loan, on the final day of the deadline.
This comes almost a year after Sancho's public clash with Erik ten Hag, but Ashworth insists the 24-year-old has not been “kicked out” of Old Trafford.
“I think with any player, whether it's Jadon, Scott or Aaron, if there's a preference that they'd like to move and go to a new club and it's the right thing for them and it's the right thing for us, then that needs to be explored,” Ashworth said.
“We felt like we had enough depth at that particular position to be able to cover it, we've got four really good wide players, Jadon was the fifth, and that allowed us to make the decision that if it was good for him and good for us, it was something we were willing to consider.
“It was a decision we made. If it's the right thing for Jadon and it's the right thing for us, we have to move on.
“He wanted to explore the opportunity at Chelsea, just like Scott wanted to explore the opportunity at Napoli, just like Aaron wanted to explore the opportunity at West Ham. We're not in a position where we're kicking players out of the club.”
