Manchester United are entering a new era. After five turbulent years as manager, Marc Skinner agreed to mutually terminate his contract on Monday, bringing an end to a reign defined by periods of overachievement on the pitch and mounting frustration off it.
Skinner repeatedly voiced concerns over the club's level of investment in the women's team, while also becoming the subject of supporter anger himself over tactical decisions.
His departure has paved the way for former Hearts coach Eva Olid, who arrives on an initial two-year contract with the option of a third, but the managerial change signals more than just a new face in the dugout.
Sources have told ESPN that United are embarking on a different long-term strategy, one centred on promoting academy talent and developing young players rather than competing with Europe's elite in the transfer market. The approach also helps explain the club's subdued summer recruitment.
It is a significant shift in direction for a club that reached the UEFA Women's Champions League (UWCL) quarterfinals last season and who have long insisted they want to compete for the game's biggest honours.
So is the arrival of a new manager and new philosophy the first step towards a successful future, or are United simply asking a younger squad and a more inexperienced coach to rival clubs with much better investment?
Why Skinner's exit was not entirely a shock
Skinner's departure should not have come as a surprise. Sources told ESPN that the 43-year-old offered his resignation before agreeing to a mutual termination with the club. Yet, despite the growing tensions behind the scenes, his exit just weeks before the start of the new WSL season still feels abrupt.
Skinner's tenure at United delivered notable achievement but also persistent frustration. He attempted to establish the club among England's elite while operating on a budget far below those rivals.
On the pitch, you can argue the club overachieved. United reached four domestic cup finals -- they were defeated in three of those, including last season's League Cup final against Chelsea. The greatest day of Skinner's reign would have been lifting the 2024 FA Cup trophy after a win over Tottenham Hotspur, had it not been for their incredible run to the UWCL quarterfinals last season in their maiden European campaign.
WSL campaigns under Skinner reflected both the progress and inconsistency of the project. United earned respectable finishes of fourth, second, fifth, third and fourth, in that order. Behind those results, however, lay mounting frustrations. Following United's UWCL quarterfinal defeat to Bayern Munich in April, Skinner delivered what now reads as a pointed assessment of the club's ambitions.
"I think we will learn from what investment is really needed to go into this level of competition for consistent years," he said. "I think we're still learning as a club. I have incredible pressure, you know that, you read everything every day, sometimes you write it. I have incredible pressure and I hold that pressure. I want to say this, I'm incredibly proud of what my players are doing with the resources we have.
"Because we wear Manchester United's badge, everybody expects us to be the very best team in the world. We have that expectation too. So that's the pinch point, because we want to be the best. We've got to grow because we're eight years old. We're eight years old. You [can] give me all the flak, that's fine, that's no problem, that's my job.
"But if we want to compete at this latter stage, we've seen what we've got to do, as a club. And then it's our choice now, isn't it? We have to look at what we seriously want to achieve and we'll learn and grow from it. Even as a club, we're still learning. It takes, sometimes, a punch in the face to wake up."
Privately and publicly, he maintained that United could not consistently compete with clubs whose investment in their women's teams far exceeded their own. While United remain one of the world's richest football clubs under the ownership of the Glazer family and minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, their women's operation has never enjoyed the level of financial backing afforded to rivals Chelsea or Arsenal. More recently, they do not even compete financially with independent club London City Lionesses, who have the backing of billionaire Michele Kang.
Lack of investment is hardly a new issue; Skinner's predecessor Casey Stoney also left citing frustrations over the club's commitment to the women's programme.
But that is not to say Skinner escaped criticism. Supporters questioned aspects of his tactical approach, while some of his media comments -- occasionally taken out of context -- further strained relations with fans. His criticism of Chelsea's goals after the League Cup final defeat, for example, only intensified scrutiny.
For many supporters, the time to remove Skinner was long ago. United endured a disappointing 2023-24 league campaign, finishing fifth despite winning the FA Cup, before he was rewarded with a contract extension. The season ended with a humiliating 6-0 home defeat to Chelsea that handed the London club another league title -- a result many supporters still view as one of the lowest moments of his reign.
Ultimately, Skinner became the public face of problems that extended far beyond the dugout. His departure closes one chapter, but it does little to solve the structural issues that remain.
A lack of investment
It would be overly simplistic to pin Manchester United's problems solely on Skinner or his tactical shortcomings. While he was not without fault, the issues that have hindered the club's progress are structural and have existed throughout his tenure.
United have consistently spoken of wanting to establish themselves among the WSL top three and have done so twice on the pitch. But off the pitch, they never came close. How much further could the club have gone had it matched the investment, infrastructure and long-term planning of Arsenal, who won the 2025 Champions League, or Chelsea, whose sustained spending has underpinned six consecutive league titles?
The United women's team has often appeared to be an afterthought within the wider football operation.
Ratcliffe admitted in 2024 that his focus on the men's side had prevented him from giving the women's team his full attention. He did not attend either of United's FA Cup finals and has yet to be seen at a women's first-team fixture, including the run to the UWCL quarterfinals last season.
That same summer, the women's squad were relocated to temporary portable buildings at the club's Carrington training ground after the men's team took over their purpose-built facilities while a £50 million renovation of the men's training complex was completed. The decision became symbolic of the perception that the women's side remained secondary within the club's priorities.
United were not entirely inactive under Skinner. They signed 37 players during his five years in charge and, according to the club's accounts, increased the women's operating budget from just under £5 million in 2021-22 to £10.7 million by 2024-25.
Even so, the numbers remain modest compared to their direct rivals. United's wage bill for the 2024-25 campaign stood at £5.88 million -- just over half of Arsenal's £11.3 million in the same season the London club lifted the Champions League. Manchester City's operating expenses exceeded £14 million before they went on to win the WSL the following season, while Chelsea have consistently led the league in spending, a financial advantage reflected in their sustained domestic dominance.
The club's recruitment strategy has also raised questions. United have repeatedly lost key players for nothing after failing to agree new contracts. Alessia Russo, Mary Earps, Ona Batlle and former captain Katie Zelem all departed on free transfers, many strengthening direct rivals in the process.
ESPN reported earlier this summer that United received a £850,000 fee from Chelsea for the transfer of star striker Melvine Malard, but there has been little evidence that the money has been reinvested into the squad.
Additional revenue has also arrived through sporting success. United earned around £250,000 for finishing runners-up at the 2026 World Sevens tournament, while their Women's Champions League run is estimated to have generated approximately £1.38 million in prize money.
Against that backdrop, the club's quiet transfer window has been difficult to reconcile. United have added only Spanish defender Andrea Medina and goalkeeper Janina Leitzig while allowing three senior players to leave permanently and another on loan. They have also made little use of the free-agent market despite clear gaps in the squad.
Prioritising youth over big-money signings
United's long-term vision is shifting into what they believe is a more sustainable model. Sources have told ESPN that senior figures at the club believe the current level of spending across the WSL is financially unsustainable. Rather than attempting to match the transfer fees and wage bills of their rivals, United's focus is expected to centre on developing academy talent and building a younger squad coming through.
Whether it represents a genuine long-term vision or a justification for reduced spending is a question that will define the next phase of the club's development.
In theory, it is a logical strategy in principle, but very few clubs have managed to make it work quickly enough to remain among the league's elite.
Even Arsenal, widely regarded as one of England's strongest academies, have seen only two recent graduates establish themselves in the first team: Striker Michelle Agyemang and defender Katie Reid. Both suffered ACL injuries within their first year as senior players, underlining the unpredictability of relying on youth development.
Chelsea are often held up as the benchmark but aren't without issues. Forward Aggie Beever-Jones has become an England international and a regular first-team player, yet even Chelsea have struggled to provide consistent pathways for the next wave of academy talent. Prospects including Lexi Potter, Lola Brown, Chloe Sarwie and Vera Jones train regularly with the senior squad and provide valuable depth, but none have yet become central figures in a side competing for major honours.
United face an even steeper challenge. The club handed professional contracts to Layla Drury, Jess Anderson and Scarlett Hill, but the trio, who are all between 17 and 18-years-old, were given few senior minutes last season. In fact, United ranked last in the WSL for minutes given to players under the age of 21, illustrating just how difficult it has been for academy players to break into the first team.
Drury will also miss the start of the season having been called up to England's squad for the Under-20 World Cup taking place in September.
That reality makes the club's current approach difficult to reconcile with the immediate demands of competing at the top of the WSL.
United's lack of depth was exposed during the latter stages of last season's UWCL campaign, when injuries and rotation stretched the squad to its limit. That squad is now even thinner, leaving significant questions over whether its current options are sufficient to compete across a full league season.
Building a successful academy pipeline is a long-term project. Barcelona are often cited as the model, but their production line has been developed over many years within one of the world's strongest youth systems. Midfielder Clara Serrajordi, for example, started last season's Champions League final at just 18-years-old after being gradually integrated into the first team. That level of continuity is difficult to replicate, particularly in the WSL, where the infrastructure supporting the women's academy game remains far less developed.
United's own academy record also illustrates the scale of the challenge. Seven academy graduates left the club during the 2023-24 season, followed by another 11 across 2025-26. While player turnover is inevitable, such a high level of departures makes it harder to establish the kind of sustained pathway the club now hopes to build.
Chief executive Omar Berrada has previously stated that United's ambition is to win the WSL by 2028. Whether that target remains realistic under the club's revised strategy is open to debate.
The club previously disbanded their women's team in 2005 to focus on the academy and, two decades later, it appears they are reverting back to their old ways.
Why Man United appointed Eva Olid as manager
It did not take Manchester United long to appoint Skinner's successor, as they turned to Spanish coach Olid.
The 40-year-old arrives after five successful years at Hearts, where she transformed the club from relegation candidates into Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) champions. Those who worked alongside her in Scotland speak highly of her tactical approach, player management and ability to improve young footballers.
According to ESPN sources, United identified youth development as one of the key attributes they wanted in their next head coach -- an area they thought Skinner had room to improve.
However, Olid inherits a very different challenge to what she is used to. The SWPL is a valuable proving ground for young players, but it is a markedly different environment from the WSL, which is deeper, more competitive and subject to far greater scrutiny, leaving managers with fewer opportunities to hand meaningful minutes to inexperienced players.
That does not mean Olid's track record is irrelevant: Her experience developing young talent is precisely why United appointed her. The question is whether a coach with that expertise can accelerate a process that typically takes years rather than months.
Her introduction to English football will offer little margin for error either. United begin their league campaign away to an ambitious London City side that have significantly strengthened their squad, before successive fixtures against Chelsea and Arsenal. Lose those three games, and United's hopes of challenging the big clubs will be in tatters before October has even arrived.
There is still time for United to strengthen before the transfer window closes. Greater depth, particularly in defense and attack, would ease the burden on a squad that looked stretched during the closing months of last season and has since become even thinner.
The appointment of Olid marks the beginning of a new chapter at United. There is genuine optimism surrounding a highly regarded female coach, but optimism alone will not close the gap to the WSL's leading clubs.
Whether United's new strategy proves sustainable -- or simply leaves them further behind -- will depend not only on the new manager, but on the level of support the club is prepared to provide.