Manchester United have broken Ed Woodward's 'strict Bayern Munich rule' this summer after Jose Mourinho decision

Manchester United have been active this summer in the transfer window with four major acquisitions so far but have broken a rule imposed by former chief executive Ed Woodward in doing so.

Erik ten Hag's side have strengthened the attack with the signing of Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna, with the striker scoring the winning goal on his United debut in last night's Premier League opening 1-0 victory against Fulham at Old Trafford.

The defence has also been reinforced with the signing of promising youngster Leny Yoro from Lille, though the defender will be out of action for the next three months following surgery on a foot injury.

And earlier this week, United completed a double signing from Bayern Munich with the acquisition of Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

Both players, like Zirkzee, made their competitive United debuts in the victory against the Cottagers, with Mazraoui starting at right-back and De Ligt coming off the bench to play at centre-half.

It is not the first time United have brought in players from the Bavarian giants.

In the summer of 2007, Owen Hargreaves made the move from the Bundesliga to the Premier League, and in 2015 Bastian Schweinsteiger made the same switch.

However, both moves ultimately did not pay off in the long-term for United, with Hargreaves suffering chronic injury problems at Old Trafford and Schweinsteiger leaving in 2017 after falling out of favour under then-boss Jose Mourinho.

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And in signing both De Ligt and Mazraoui, it seems United have broken a rule imposed by former chief executive Woodward, who left the club in 2022, to not sign Bayern players.

ESPN football reporter Rob Dawson has recalled that back in 2018, ex-United boss Mourinho had been keen to recruit a new central defender and wanted to bring Jerome Boateng from the Allianz Area to Old Trafford.

But he has explained how Woodwood essentially vetoed that wish owing to bad experiences from signing players from Bayern in the past.

Dawson said: "The summer of 2018, I was away with United on tour in the US, and Jose was desperate for a centre-half.

"We did a pre-season game away at Bayern. There were only a couple of reporters there, and Jose had taken a couple of us to one side and said he was desperate to sign Jerome Boateng from Bayern. An ageing centre-half, obviously still a good player, but coming towards the end of his career.

"United refused to do it. On deadline day that summer, there was a press conference at United, and we were sat in the little press room to the side at Carrington when Ed Woodward walked in.

"Basically, Ed walked in to tell us why United weren't going to sign a centre-half or the centre-half that Jose wanted.

"The reason he gave was that United had learned their lesson about signing players from Bayern Munich.

"He said they got stung with Schweinsteiger. They'd got stung with Owen Hargreaves. Players who arrived at United with big reputations, on big wages and just didn't work out either because of their injury record or for whatever reason.

"He left the room and said, 'We're never going to sign players from Bayern again.'

"And then, six years later, they've signed two lads from Bayern."