‘Man Utd chief Ed Woodward is NOT to blame, Jose Mourinho has the last word on transfers’

In Wednesday night’s 2-1 defeat to Valencia in the Champions League, the only Manchester United signing from the summer to start was Fred.

But the Brazilian was poor on the night and hauled off after just 57 minutes.

Since Jose Mourinho arrived at Old Trafford in 2016, United have spent £391million on players to mount a challenge for major honours.

However, of the 10 players signed there have been more failures than successes.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was signed then sent to Arsenal in a deal which brought Alexis Sanchez to the club but the Chilean has flopped.

At £89m, Paul Pogba is the most expensive player signed but Mourinho has not been able to get the best out of him.

But speaking on Virgin Media Sport, Souness dismissed claims Woodward was at fault for their signings.

“Where’s the problems upstairs?” Souness said.

“What’s Woodward done wrong? I don’t think Woodward’s done anything wrong!

“He has supplied a succession of managers with a load of money to spend.

“Mourinho has spent circa £400m. That’s his job to provide the money.

“Now there must be some committee. I wouldn’t imagine it is Woodward.

“I wouldn’t imagine it is just done to the manager to sign the players.

“There will be people responsible within that club that say ‘these are our targets, this is who we think are good enough’.

“I imagine Mourinho has the last word on that.

“I don’t see where you can point a finger at Woodward in all this.”