Red Devil Blogs

Louis van Gaal's first season under United

Louis van Gaal was under quiet pressure ahead of a very demanding season whilst United finishing 7th in the previous season. With no Champions League football gave United the opportunity to focus mainly on the Premier League. United had a very impressive pre-season, winning the International Champions cup and earning van Gaal his first trophy as a United manager.

Transfers: Ins and outs

This was quite a busy transfer window for Manchester United as their squad re-building process was in progress. This saw many United players leave such as the likes of Patrice Evra, who departed for Italy to join Italian champions Juventus on a free transfer. Later United Left back Alex Buttner joined Russian side Dynamo Kiev. Midfielder Tom Cleverely joined Aston Villa on loan and attacker Luis Nani joined Sporting Lisbon on a season-long loan. Man Utd prospect Shinji Kagawa left to rejoin his side Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United striker Chicharito Hernandez joined Champions league winners Real Madrid on loan. United centre back duo Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic joined QPR and Inter Milan respectively. One of he surprise departures was from the United academy player Danny Welbeck who left to join FA cup winners Arsenal.

These were quite some departure but this saw some impressive arrivals as well. United started their transfer window business by signing Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera on a 4 year deal.

A day later they signed Southampton future prospect left back Luke Shaw.

In mid-August United signed Argentina centre back Marcos Rojo from Sporting Lisbon, few days later United announced that they have agreed a fee with Real Madrid over the transfer of attacking midfielder Angel Di Maria for a British record fee. Yet there were two more signings left and both of them signing for United on transfer deadline day. Dutch midfielder Daley Blind signed from Ajax and Colombian forward Radamel Falcao joined from AS Monaco on a season long loan with an option to buy at the end of the loan period.

So there were many departures and many arrivals, but can United cope up and get back to the Premier League race and most importantly back into the Uefa Champions League.