Manchester United CEO Omar Berrada had admitted he ‘underestimated’ how bad things could get at Old Trafford after the club’s worst-ever Premier League campaign.
The Red Devils finished 15th in the Premier League last month after replacing Erik ten Hag with Ruben Amorim midway through the season.
Amorim’s appointment did not bring around a change in fortunes after United’s difficult start to the season led to Ten Hag’s sacking. Berrada concedes he was shocked at how bad things went in the second half of the season, but is adamant that the decision to bring in Amorim will pay off next season.
‘We knew that by bringing in Ruben mid-season that it was going to be even more difficult for the team to perform,’ Berrada told United We Stand.
‘We saw it as an investment for the following seasons, because we were going to give Ruben time to get to know the squad, the club, the Premier League.
‘We have a very clear roadmap. Had Ruben started on 1 July 2025, we wouldn’t have been able to have all that knowledge, right? And that’s what I feel about these seven or eight months that he’s had in the Premier League and what he’s suffered in the Premier League. And the team has suffered. It’s really going to help us in the future.
Omar Berrada admitted he was shocked at how badly Man United struggled last season
Ruben Amorim led United to 15th – the club’s worst-ever Premier League finish
United lost the Europa League final to Spurs and are also struggling off the pitch with Sir Jim Ratcliffe at the helm, but Berrada is adamant ‘the hardest part is behind us’
‘I couldn’t have said that we were going to finish 15th. That was never the goal. I think we probably underestimated the time it would have required the team to adjust to the system. But we don’t regret the decision because I’m convinced that we’ll see this pay off next season.’
United’s struggles on the pitch have coincided with a difficult period for the club off it.
Following Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s partial takeover last year, United are now going through their second round of redundancies, with as many as 200 staff set to lose their jobs.
Berrada admits some tough decisions have needed to be made, but is convinced the club will come out the other side stronger once the redundancy process is complete.
‘The toughest decisions have already been made. The hardest part of the transformation is behind us or will be behind us after the summer.
‘We’re still going through the end of the second redundancy which is very difficult again to let go of people that have worked here for many years.’
United finished 42 points behind champions Liverpool last season and have never looked further away from winning the Premier League.
But Berrada believes they can get back to the top quickly, and has set a target date to win a 14th Premier League title in 2028, which will also be United’s 150th anniversary.
‘Project 150 is a very simple idea,’ Berrada revealed. ‘We’re going to celebrate our 150th anniversary in June 2028, an important milestone in the history of the club. It’s a way of setting a time-bound period where we’re going to focus our efforts to achieve certain goals: winning the Premier League, having the women’s team win the first WSL, becoming one of the most commercially innovative clubs in the world, as we have been in the past, being cash positive.
United finished 42 points behind Liverpool, but Berrada thinks they can win the title in 2028
The Red Devils have already signed Matheus Cunha this summer, and Berrada feels they must now build a squad capable of competing for major trophies
‘We have been a bit distracted with all the issues around the men’s first team but we are committed to making the women’s team very successful. You’ve heard Jim say, if you’re wearing the United shirt then you must win, and that’s exactly how I feel. A club of our scale has a responsibility to grow football in general and to contribute to women’s football.
‘Overall, it’s establishing a series of targets within a timeframe so we can focus our efforts and energy on that goal. And if you ask me today, can the team win the Premier League title by 2028? Of course. We’ve just finished 15th and it seems like an impossible task. But why not aim for it? Why not do everything in our power? There have been other turnarounds and other big teams have had bad seasons and gone on to win the Premier League or La Liga.
Berrada arrived at Barcelona in 2004 during a low point in the club’s recent history, but they turned things around to win the Champions League two years later.
He feels a similar resurgence is possible at United if they can get things right in the transfer market after already signing Matheus Cunha from Wolves this summer.
‘I firmly believe that we can do it (win the Premier League in 2028),’ Berrada added. ‘We have two or three summer windows to build a team to start competing to win the Premier League and if we can achieve it before then we’ll all be happy and so nobody’s saying that we don’t want to win it until then.
‘All we’re saying is we’re setting ourselves a target with a specific timeframe to go and aim for that because if you just said oh, we want to win the Premier League… great, but by when? So this way, again it’s from the ownership to management, to everybody in the club, we have a target, we have a mission and that’s what we want to achieve.’
