Van Gaal IN – Rooney OUT?

Article by e-Manchester United's Tony Gillies

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At long last United have announced Louis van Gaal as David Moyes' successor, it's been footballs worst kept secret since the morning Moyes packed his bags and left his office in Carrington vacant.

Like most United supporters I am looking forward to seeing what van Gaal has to offer and how he is going to rebuild this squad which has far too many passengers. Luke Shaw seems a certainty, Toni Kroos, Arjen Robben, Mats Hummels, Cesc Fabregas, Bacary Sagna, Edison Cavani, and Thomas Muller have all been touted as being lined up to bolster the squad for next season, if David Moyes had written up a wish list like this he would have been laughed at but even without the lure of Champions League football next season, the fact we now have a respectable manager in van Gaal these names seem more a possibility than they would have done under Moyes.

Everyone is aware of how successful van Gaal has been at Ajax, AZ, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. With the foundations he built and left at the former two clubs he has recently been given the credit he deserves, these clubs thanking van Gaal for their current eras of success. But this is the English Premiership and he is now 62, with us finishing as low as we did last season and looking so far behind the top 4, no doubt that City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal will only improve next season so does he have enough in him and do the squad have it in them to turn this round and put in a real title challenge next season? I'm not sure it will work in the first year but it can't be any worse than the season we have all just had to deal with.

With the current Netherlands coach choosing a red to lead his country in the World Cup, a lot of talk has already come up that Robin van Persie will replace Nemanja Vidic as club captain next season. Van Perise has captained Arsenal and will lead his homeland out on the biggest stage of all so I don't doubt van Persie's credentials at all but one man who's nose will no doubt be put out of joint is Wayne Rooney. When Rooney singed his new 5 year deal earlier in the year, we all believed that one of the major clauses in Rooney's contract would be to become United captain this season but that was under the previous regime. van Gaal it would seem has his own ideas and he seems to rule with an iron fist so I wouldn't bet against van Persie being captain. There have been whispers that Rooney and van Persie haven't always seen eye to eye since the Dutchman's arrival two summers ago; if the stories do have some truth in them then this will only make things worse. It's a massive shame as these two have the potential to be the best strike force in the world but as Rooney spits his dummy out at every opportunity and van Persie who can come across as hard work and a little arrogant, I don't feel we will ever see how good this partnership could have been.

As I pointed out earlier, van Gaal is apparently looking at another striker in Thomas Muller and Edison Cavani does this signal the end for Rooney yet again? It wouldn't surprise me at all if he wanted to leave for a third time and if he were to ask, I think he would be shown the door and have his bags packed for him this time. He will be 29 this year and with a full 5 years on his contract, we could ask what we wanted for him and should a Real Madrid, PSG or even Chelsea come knocking again with a £50m-£60m offer, it would be too hard to turn down seeing as we could be spending between £100m and £150m on incoming transfers. At the end of the day United are a massive business and to receive some of the transfer kitty back would be music to the ears of the Glazers.

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