Manchester United have just completed a transfer window that could be described as broadly satisfactory, though there will be plenty reserving judgement.

After the most drawn-out pursuit of the month, United finally secured the signing of Portuguese attacking midfielder Bruno Fernandes for an initial £47million and potentially rising to £68m.

And with just hours to go before the deadline, they signed Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo on loan from Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua as a back-up in the injury absence of Marcus Rashford.

Manchester United finally secured a deal for Sporting Lisbon midfielder Bruno Fernandes

The Red Devils also brought in Nigerian striker Odion Ighalo from CSL club Shanghai Shenhua

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was happy with the deals struck as the Old Trafford club push on in the Premier League, FA Cup and Europa League.

But there has also been criticism of the time taken to get the Fernandes deal over the line and also the scattergun approach to bringing in a forward.

They tried to sign Bournemouth's Joshua King, a former United player, but were repelled by the south coast club's £35m asking price having made two lower bids.

Bournemouth forward Joshua King was linked with a January return but it never materialised

King was excited that a deal could be struck and was keen on rejoining United but, according to the Athletic, was left feeling 'used and messed about' when a third offer failed to materialise.

United were offered the chance to sign Edinson Cavani of Paris Saint-Germain and get Salomon Rondon on loan before turning to Ighalo.

It means questions are again being asked of the team responsible for identifying transfer targets and sewing up deals behind the scenes at Old Trafford.

The club still haven't appointed a director of football despite various hints in recent years that they would and consequently their process of buying new players is far from efficient.

But who are the personalities responsible for United's transfer business and what part do they play?

ED WOODWARD - EXECUTIVE VICE-CHAIRMAN

A man never far from the headlines and usually for negative reasons. Woodward is the public face of United's increasingly-maligned owners, the Glazer family, and finds himself the target of supporter criticism.

This is becoming increasingly aggressive and indefensible with a minority of supporters singing about burning him on a bonfire and a thuggish fringe last week hurling smoke bombs at his house.

Woodward is a former chartered accountant and investment banker, who has been allied with the Glazers since he advised them on their controversial 2005 takeover of United while working for JP Morgan Chase.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has been criticised for his transfer dealings in the past - he succeeded David Gill in 2013, who left at the same time as Sir Alex Ferguson

He was soon employed within United's commercial operation as the club battled to manage the high-interest loans that saddled the club with £525m worth of debt in what was a £790m buy-out in 2005.

And when former chief executive David Gill stepped down at the same time as legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2013, it was little surprise that Woodward was appointed to succeed him.

Since then, Woodward has successfully managed to keep United high in the revenue leagues and their financial and commercial muscle is as strong as ever.

The latest Deloitte football rich list puts United behind only Barcelona and Real Madrid with total revenues of £627.1m, a growth of six per cent on the previous year.

So that's all well and good as far as the Glazers are concerned, but Woodward's lack of a football background has been brutally exposed in United's declining performance on the field since 2013.

Almost £900m has been spent on new players since Ferguson retired but there are precious few success stories and many, many failures, from Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao to Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez.

Many of these signings have also burdened United with enormous wage bills for little gain when it comes to winning trophies.

Three managers have been and gone in United's post-Fergie hinterland, with Louis van Gaal perhaps offering the most scathing appraisal of Woodward, saying he had 'zero understanding of football.'

With Solskjaer's United continuing to struggle, fan patience in Woodward and the Glazers appears to have snapped.

While attacks on his home can never be condoned, we can expect a mutinous atmosphere at Old Trafford in the months ahead.

MATT JUDGE - HEAD OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

While Woodward rarely gives interviews, his low profile is nothing compared to his right-hand man when it comes to negotiating transfer deals, Matt Judge.

Little is known about Judge, who doesn't even have a picture on his LinkedIn page, and is rarely pictured in public.

Search for Matt Judge on the internet and just one photograph exists of a tall, balding man walking behind Woodward in club suit and tie (above)

Instead his biography on the networking site reads: 'Managing Manchester United's equity and debt capital structure - three equity offerings incl. the IPO, totalling over $450m; and three debt refinancings ($1bn+) - debut private placement, term-loan and RCF.

'Also player negotiations (transfers and playing contracts).'

Only the last bit will mean anything to the average football fan but Judge is similar to Woodward in that he also went to Bristol University and spent over a decade in the investment banking sector.

It's not quite the background you'd expect of the person responsible for negotiating transfer deals and contracts at one of the world's biggest football clubs.

But since 2016 he's been doing just that, presiding with Woodward over a global network of 52 scouts who feed information back to the chief scouts and manager Solskjaer.

Judge is also the man who leads the way in negotiating the finer details of player contracts, as he did last summer to bring in Daniel James from Swansea, Harry Maguire from Leicester and Aaron Wan-Bissaka from Crystal Palace.

Judge played a crucial role in sweetening the deal for Harry Maguire to join from Leicester City

If agents call United to offer their client's services, the inquiry is directed to Judge, and he is also responsible for contract renewals, such as goalkeeper David de Gea's last year.

Like Woodward, he splits his time between Manchester and United's corporate headquarters in Mayfair, London.

JIM LAWLOR - CHIEF SCOUT

The experienced Lawlor has been United's chief scout since 2005, working under Ferguson, David Moyes, Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and now Solskjaer.

He is one of the few figures involved in recruitment decisions who can bring continuity from United's glory days under Fergie.

Lawlor will be involved in the high-level discussions prior to making signings along with Solskjaer, Judge, Mick Court and Marcel Bout.

United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will work closely with long-term chief scout Jim Lawlor

There have been various efforts to overhaul United's scouting and recruitment system since Woodward took over in 2013 though it is debatable whether anything has improved.

In 2016, shortly after Mourinho was appointed manager, United appointed 50 new scouts across every continent after the dysfunctional recruitment of the Van Gaal tenure and a root-and-branch review of process.

The information on transfer targets Lawlor used to commit to memory has at least been replaced by sophisticated software and data systems in recent years.

So before signing Wan-Bissaka, United held data on 804 right-backs around the world before drawing on the reports of 33 first-team scouts to draw up a list of 50-70 names.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka was signed after a comprehensive analysis of right-backs around the world

This was whittled down to a top 10 using additional scouting reports before a shortlist of three was produced by applying bespoke video analysis.

It is at this point Lawlor and Co sit down to make their decisions on who to buy.

MICK COURT - TECHNICAL CHIEF SCOUT

Court has been at Old Trafford for 11 years and has been in his current role of technical chief scout since April last year having formerly been head performance recruitment analyst.

Along with his four-strong team of analysts, Court is the man responsible for cutting down those long-lists of potential recruits to a more manageable shortlist.

In the case of Wan-Bissaka, the top three were ranked in order after being presented to Solskjaer and the rest of the recruitment department.

Both Solskjaer and the recruitment department have the power of veto over any transfer target and if one is rejected, they are replaced by the next option on the list.

If the recruitment department do veto a potential signing, it's up to Woodward to explain the decision to the manager, which happened when the team didn't agree with Mourinho's demands for another centre back.

The team headed by Mick Court did not agree with Jose Mourinho about centre back targets

Fortunately, Wan-Bissaka was the No 1 choice on the right-back list and the deal could proceed.

The successful process of signing Wan-Bissaka was actually presented to wider Old Trafford staff in a presentation to demonstrate good practice and restore faith in the club's hierarchy after a poor start to the season.

Court's LinkedIn biography says he is a 'strong research professional with a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) focused in Human Movement Science - Dynamic Systems Analysis of the Co-ordination of Human Movement'.

This came from the schools of sport science at Manchester Metropolitan and Liverpool John Moores universities before he worked for Watford, Everton and Crewe.

JOHN MURTOUGH - YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CHIEF

Solskjaer has made no secret of his desire to give United's best academy graduates their chance in the first team and so the role of youth development chief Murtough has become increasingly important.

It's Murtough who has overseen the emergence of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Scott McTominay, Brandon Williams and Mason Greenwood in recent seasons.

Youth development chief John Murtough played a part in Marcus Rashford's development

Murtough started out as a sports scientist under David Moyes at Everton and worked up the ranks to become the Toffees' head of performance.

He left Goodison Park to work for the Premier League in 2012 before following Moyes to Old Trafford when he was appointed Ferguson's successor in 2013.

His work in bringing through players from United's academy is highly respected by Woodward and there was talk he could become the club's still-to-be-appointed technical director last year.

MARCEL BOUT - HEAD OF GLOBAL SCOUTING

Dutchman Bout was formerly head training coach, youth team coach and recovery trainer at Feyenoord, manager of AZ Alkmaar's youth team and assistant to Van Gaal at Bayern Munich.

Following Van Gaal's departure from Bayern, Bout was kept on by Jupp Heynckes as chief match analyst before returning to Holland to work as assistant coach, technical analyst and scout for the under-21 national team.

Having worked under Van Gaal at AZ and Bayern, Bout was appointed as United's assistant coach specialising in opposition scouting in the summer of 2014.

By the time Bout was promoted to head of global scouting in 2016, Van Gaal had been sacked and he actually asked his former boss for permission to take the job.

His first task was to integrate the 50 new worldwide scouts appointed in that summer's shake-up and Bout makes the call on the young talent identified.

Marcel Bout (left) was brought into the club by former manager Louis van Gaal in 2014 - Bout stayed on after Van Gaal left in 2016, having been promoted to head of global scouting

As well as being part of the top team that make the ultimate decision on signings, Bout is also responsible for scouting missions.

He watched United target Erling Haaland play for Red Bull Salzburg against Liverpool in the Champions League before Christmas.

Haaland ultimately joined Borussia Dortmund despite close links with his Solskjaer, his former coach at Molde.