This really shows how football has changed.
You would imagine that Manchester United don’t need to push too hard to sign a player. They are one of the richest, and most famous, clubs in the world, and the most successful in Britain.
In 2013, United claimed that they have 659 million supporters around the world.
Not again! https://t.co/PwXBDheCOM
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 25, 2017
However, it appears Ed Woodward still has to pitch the merits of the club to transfer targets, and social media reach plays a big role.
Ian Herbert has a very interesting article in the Daily Mail about the importance of social media in transfers, and United’s executive vice-chairman comes up.
According to Herbert:
“Manchester United’s global presence has seen executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward make pitches to agents about how much more marketable and famous their clients will become by joining them, rather than Chelsea. The 72 per cent uplift in Daley Blind’s Twitter following, within 14 days of signing, is often quoted.”
This is why he has got so far https://t.co/olEFtj98S4
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) July 27, 2017
The importance of social media also has an impact when clubs consider signing players, as many people in the United States and Asia support an individual player, rather than clubs. While a strong social media presence is so viable it can increase a player’s transfer fee and wage.
It appears United are ahead of the field. According to Hebert, Woodward also quotes social media figures to potential investors.
“He told them in May that United were accounting for almost half of all social media interactions on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter of the 20 Premier League clubs. Of the 510m likes, comments, shares or retweets for 20 Premier League clubs, United had 250m of them.”
