Premier League

Ed Woodward joins Man Utd stars for flight to Belgrade as club confirm De Gea one of eight not part of squad

Published

25th October 2019

ED WOODWARD has joined Manchester United’s players for their flight to Serbia ahead of their Europa League clash with Partizan Belgrade on Thursday.

The Red Devils executive vice chairman was pictured walking into the airport with other stars but in a big blow to United fans, David De Gea was missing from the travelling party.

Ed Woodward was pictured entering Manchester airport with the rest of the squad ahead of their flight to Belgrade

Under-fire manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer posed for pictures with fans on his way into the airport

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer led the group into Manchester airport this afternoon and there were a number of notable omissions.

Paul Pogba, Axel Tuanzebe and Luke Shaw were all absent but Jesse Lingard is back in the fold.

De Gea misses out with a groin problem while Lingard has shrugged off a hamstring injury to join back in with his teammates.

Woodward is under intense pressure at the moment for his role in United’s gradual decline since he took over from David Gill.

And his decision to fly with the players has surprised some given his recent claim he “does not want to be famous and can’t be mates with the players”.

The 47-year-old ex-banker was also recently forced to deny he picks transfers by watching YouTube videos.

He said: “The decisions related to recruitment are all taken by football experts. My involvement is signing off the money.

“”I don’t get involved in recruitment like people think I do. There’s a myth that I look at YouTube and choose players. I don’t. Having an eye for players is an art. I have no interest in doing that.”