Paddy Power pokes fun at Manchester United in deadline day stunt

Paddy Power has revealed a shopfront in Manchester dedicated to transfer deadline day’s greatest window shopper – Manchester United chief executive Ed Woodward. The Premier League transfer window slammed shut last night and United missed out on their main targets, just days after a humiliating 6-1 home defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham. The Flutter-owned operator erected a temporary shop display to showcase Woodward’s range of nearly-men transfers, from Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho to Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish. The shop front, built on Clarence Street in Manchester city centre, is signposted as Woodward’s and features tongue-in-cheek descriptions of why the club failed to land each target.

Next to Thiago Alcantara, who instead opted to move to Premier League champions Liverpool, it says: “Award-winning Spanish model. Sold to more attractive buyer. Third purchase opportunity unlikely.” Beside Gareth Bale, who recently returned to Spurs from Real Madrid, it reads: “Approached. Rejected. Missed out. In that order,” mimicking his famous Wales, golf, Madrid flag. The shop also invites customers to visit sister store Ed’s Panic Buys for last-minute purchases, after United signed 33-year-old Uruguay striker and free agent Edison Cavani on deadline day. Paddy Power said: “When it comes to transfers, Ed Woodward is the ultimate window shopper. “We wanted to celebrate his penchant for looking at high-end purchases, before instead throwing money at an ageing attacker that could have been signed much earlier. “No doubt the store will be ‘busy’ again come January,” he added. The shop window marks Paddy Power’s second mischievous marketing stunt in five months after it fired a tongue-in-cheek rebuttal to Arsenal defender Hector Bellerin’s tree-planting promise in June.