Louis van Gaal explains that when he started in Manchester he did not get a single one of his desired players. The transfer strategy still frustrates the coach today.
According to Louis van Gaal, after his arrival at Manchester United, he did not get a single player he wished for.
“Manchester United didn’t have the quality to become champions and had an outdated selection of ten players over 30, five over 35,” the Dutchman recalled at Voetbal International when he started in 2014, “so I told them I wanted to rejuvenate the team and which players should come. I didn’t get any of them.”
“You wouldn’t expect that from the richest club in the world”
ManUnited had put their money on the former Bayern coach after the failed engagements of David Moyes and Ryan Giggs after the 2014 World Cup. In the summer of 2014, Angel Di Maria, Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw and Daley Blind joined the team and Radamel Falcao was also loaned out.
The transfers were not satisfactory for van Gaal. “Then you end the season in a different part of the table and as coach you have to move your limits. You don’t expect that from the richest club in the world. A fresh start for £600 million and you can’t buy the players you need. You should be buying the number one, not the number seven.”
Van Gaal must leave after two years
Van Gaal finished his first season in fourth place. The following summer, Bayern legend Bastian Schweinsteiger came to Old Trafford, van Gaal had to leave after the 2015/16 season and fifth place despite winning the FA Cup.
He still cannot live with his club’s purchasing policy
Of course, the selling club also believes: ‘If you’re so rich, you have to buy as much as possible for a player’. That’s what happened with the transfers. Then you have to live with number seven or eight on your wish list. …who you paid way too much money for, and who is judged and sentenced by the coach.”