Louis van Gaal has baffled Manchester United’s fans on many occasions during his 20 months at Manchester United to date. As he prepares for another huge week involving the Manchester derby with City and an FA Cup replay at West Ham, we look at the 5 most curious.
Selling Javier Hernandez
Javier Hernandez had a decent strike rate during his Manchester United career, with 59 goals in 157 matches, but he barely figured under Louis van Gaal, who first loaned him out to Real Madrid for a season, and then sold him to Bayer Leverkusen for £6million. “Van Gaal didn’t seem to know how to get the best out of him or wasn’t prepared to adapt to the little man’s way of playing,” former United centre-back Rio Ferdinand said.
Loaning out James Wilson
As United were struggling for goals in the autumn, Van Gaal’s decision to loan out one of his promising young strikers raised a few eyebrows. James Wilson marked his first start for the club by scoring twice against Hull City in May 2014, and played 17 times for the club during Van Gaal’s first season in charge. Yet he was loaned to Brighton in November, at a time when United’s only other available senior strikers were Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial.
Publicly shaming De Gea
David De Gea has been arguably United’s most consistent performer this season, yet looked certain to leave the club last summer as Real Madrid attempted to sign him. Van Gaal’s decision to drop the goalkeeper for the season’s opening league match against Tottenham was understandable; particularly given some erratic pre-season performances. More surprising was the decision to question De Gea’s focus so publicly. “It is not easy for De Gea to manage his situation now,” the manager said.
Allowing Carrick to run down his contract
Michael Carrick remains a key figure in a United midfield that has looked short on quality for a good few years, yet looks increasingly likely to leave at the end of the season. The 34-year-old’s contract expires in June, and there appears to be little prospect of a new deal. Given that the midfielders Van Gaal has signed – Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger – have yet to really settle, allowing Carrick to leave appears a questionable decision.
Not signing any central defenders
United spent a significant chunk of last summer pursuing Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos; but when the deal fell through, Van Gaal elected not to sign any other central defenders, and also allowed Jonny Evans to move to West Bromwich Albion. The manager felt that, with Daley Blind remodelled as a left-sided centre-back, he had enough cover, but Phil Jones has been injured for much of the season and teenager Tim Fosu-Mensah was pressed into service against Watford recently.