Richard Arnold has said 'money is not a consideration' in Manchester United's pursuit of Frenkie de Jong as he took aim at Ed Woodward's handling of transfers.
United have identified the Holland midfielder as their No 1 target for the summer as new manager Erik ten Hag rebuilds the club and negotiations with Barcelona are in progress.
And in a sensational exchange with a group of United supporters in a Cheshire pub, the chief executive suggested Ten Hag will be handed a substantial budget to kick-start his project at Old Trafford.
Having criticised his predecessor Woodward and the way United had 'burned through cash' during disastrous forays into the market in recent years, Arnold hinted he would leave transfers and recruitment to others in the hierarchy.
On De Jong, who Barcelona value at £69million, Arnold told the fans: 'Money is not a consideration is who we want.
'It's that the manager wants him, that they've actually done the work on looking if he's a great player.
'Do you want me buying the players? Doesn't that ring a bell?'
According to the Twitter of one of the fans who spoke to Arnold, the United chief also said: 'United officials are in Barcelona getting the deal done for De Jong.
'As a club we're doing everything possible to get the deal done, I've been up for days trying to get it done. The money is there but there's things standing in our way which I can't say.'
Ten Hag identified De Jong, 25, as his principal summer target to solve the defensive midfield issue that has hampered United for several seasons now. The pair worked together to great effect at Ajax.
De Jong is seen by the new manager as the key player for the style of football he wishes to bring to Old Trafford but De Jong has made clear he wishes to remain at Barcelona.
Ten Hag wants the majority of this summer's transfer budget spent on De Jong before moving on to other areas of the team which needed strengthening.
United have offered £56m for the Dutchman but Barcelona value him higher, suggesting a second bid could potentially happen this week.
They hope Barcelona will be pushed into a sale because of their perilous financial situation, with debts of close to £1billion.
The Catalan club have to submit their accounts to LaLiga by the end of June, which will determine any spending limits for next season and, therefore, which players have to be offloaded to raise or free up cash.
Arnold was candid with the group of United fans in secretly-filmed conversations held in a pub close to his Cheshire home.
Not only did he criticise the colossal waste of the Woodward era in the transfer market on players such as £89m Paul Pogba, but he described the last 12 months as a 'f***ing nightmare.'
United could only finish sixth in the Premier League and failed in every other competition after they sacked Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last November and replaced him with an interim manager in Ralf Rangnick.
In an honest appraisal of United's recent history, Arnold on Saturday told the group of supporters: 'We spent a billion pounds on players, more than anyone in Europe.
'I'm not thrilled where we are. It doesn't sit easy with me and I worry how we get this sorted for the future. What's happened is we have f***ing burned through cash.
'You can't go to our training ground and say 'show me where the £1billion is' because we haven't spent money well historically.
'Last year was a f***ing nightmare. There was hate at every game. We've blown through an enormous amount of money.'
It is understood a group of United fans travelled to the area in which Arnold lives and on hearing about it, he agreed to meet them and try and express his point of view.
United were affected by anti-Glazer protests at Old Trafford last season and Arnold suggested to the supporters he spoke to it would be better for those to stop.