Sir Alex backs van Gaals new-look side Sir Alex Ferguson has been impressed by Louis van Gaals summer recruitment at Manchester United - and his continuation of the clubs famous youth policy. The Reds invested heavily in the summer, to bring in six major signings including the clubs record acquisition of Angel Di Maria for £59.7million. No stranger to spending landmark fees himself, the former manager has been impressed by what the new boss has done so far in the transfer market. When asked about the Di Maria deal in an exclusive interview for MUTV, Sir Alex replied: I think when you can identify ability like that needed by Manchester United, they [the club] have the resources to do that [deal]. They are fees I never quite equalled but nonetheless they were needing quite a big injection this year. They brought in some good quality. It was really important as you need quality at Manchester United, you need the best players. It’s the rebuilding of the team. Moving on to van Gaals other new boys, Sir Alex revealed: The signing of [Luke] Shaw was the one we tried to get when he was 16 years of age. They [Southampton] wouldn’t sell him to us but they always said we’d be first to know if they ever did. Of course, Ed Woodward carried that through and got him, I think for £30million. He’s a talented boy, a good footballer who likes to get forward all the time. [Ander] Herrera played against us three years ago for [Athletic Club] Bilbao in the Europa League. In fairness, they gave us a right battering at Old Trafford. He’s a talented young player and we scouted him quite a lot at that time. Obviously they tried to get him last year but it fell through for some reason or another. He’s athletic, quite aggressive actually for a lad who has not a got a great frame as he’s quite slim but he gets around the pitch. Rojo, the Argentinian boy, I watched him at the World Cup, I thought he did really well for them and I think hes capable of playing either left side as a wing-back if you like or as a centre-back. Daley Blind is one of those common- sense footballers who make up a team. He’s probably a version of Darren. Fletcher of a few years ago, that type of player. He’s a good professional with common sense to his game. He keeps it simple and protects the defenders and the attacking midfielders in his role. The big one is Falcao who we’re all waiting to see. Obviously, he has fantastic goalscoring ability. He had his injury so getting him on loan is the right thing to do. Sir Alex has also been pleased to see van Gaal handing debuts to Academy graduates Tyler Blackett, Jesse Lingard, Saidy Janko, Andreas Pereira, Reece James, Paddy McNair and Tom Thorpe. What has pleased me with Louis is he’s given seven young kids their debuts this year and that falls into line with the history of our club, said Sir Alex. I think the supporters particularly respond very, very well when a young player gets his opportunity. Young people have to be given an opportunity, particularly if they’ve got ability. If you wait too long, they just stagnate and you lose them. You can never afford that, in my time in particular, and there was always a time when you had to assess exactly where they’re going. Whether they are going to be first-team players or get careers elsewhere. The great thing about United that still exists is there are probably around 90 players playing in England who started their careers at United’s Academy. It tells you the operation produces not just young players but good human beings, young people who can go anywhere. That’s a lot down to the staff we’ve had at United.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 19:36:23 +0000
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