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Graham Hunter: What Manchester United fans should know about the signing of Angel di Maria

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When David Beckham was in his absolute pomp I remember Sir Alex Ferguson saying that he’d never sell him unless he could find and buy a better right-footed crosser from anywhere around Europe. The man Fergie was referring to at the time was at Real Madrid – Luis Figo. Figo often said it was a dream to play at Old Trafford but never realized that ‘sueño’.

Now I believe United have bought a left-footed version of the two men. I don’t believe Angel di Maria is inferior to Figo in any way, nor will I accept that the Argentinian’s crossing can’t compare to Beckham.

And talking of that Class of ’92, I’d argue that Di Maria echoes some things which will still have United fans crying into their pints of lager. Or their prawn sandwiches.

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Hungry like the wolf …

One of the things, beyond their talent and football intelligence, which linked Scholes, Giggs, Nicky Butt, Beckham and the Neville brothers was that this was ‘their’ club. They fought like hungry wolves for every ball, every goal, every win. For their places, for the fans, for the trophies. They fought.

Setting aside the Keanes and Schmeichels (and their ilk) of this world it’s hard to go out and purchase someone whose attitude to daily intensity, defeat and victory matches that level because, by definition, its not ‘their’ club.

Now, growing up in Rosario, Argentina, age contemporary and not many kilometres away from his fellow Rosarian Lionel Messi, it’s not the case that di Maria dreamed of the Stretford End or subscribed to fanzine United We Stand.

Yet one thing which links him to that Class of ’92 is that how hard he works, how much winning means to him, what he’s willing to sacrifice and how much he’s willing to invest in making others around him better players – winners.

Gradually, the Old Trafford faithful (and United’s world-wide audience) will come to recognize that, in spirit and talent on the ball, he’s not just class – he’s ‘Class of ’92’ calibre.

Had this kid been born in Preston, Knutsford or Manchester Deansgate, instead of Rosario – over the last 30 years he’d have been incorporated into the United scouting and youth development system and Sir Alex would have cherished him.

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Precious moments …

Di Maria and his cost has been something which has over-exercised many minds and mouths over the last few days. United have the money. United have a quality deficit. United need to catch up. Di Maria is a catch. End of.

Had he played for Fergie he’d have been adored by the demanding Scot. Of working class stock (his dad worked in a coal-yard), never a problem in training, blessed with a ‘every minute of every game is precious’ spirit, immensely gifted in how he uses the ball and prepared to work hard to get the thing back when it’s lost – these are all Fergie box-tickers.

After dragging Madrid back into a Champions League final they were about to lose in May di Maria admitted:

I sank to my knees in gratitude, emotion and tiredness. I got through the 120 minutes via sheer will-power and adrenaline.  Every time I put on a jersey I give it everything I’ve got. No matter what people say, I never give 95 or 99 per cent. It’s always 100 per cent  If you consistently do that then in the end you’ll reap the rewards.

Who actually handed him his MOTM trophy? Yes, Fergie. It’s fate.

Moreover what IS United about? Cash reserves, billion-pound sponsorship deals, American owners, executive boxes, debt schedules?

Or passion: sonic booms of excited, orgasmic roars when a goal soars in or a chance zips past; committment; pride; noise; flair; energy and the ‘he who dares, wins’ spirit?

Tell me? Which of the two sentences do you want to apply to your club?

Errol Flynn football or Mickey Finn football?

Baby, please don’t go …

Di Maria pertains to the spirit of the modern Manchester United from Busby to Van Gaal via you know who.

It’s di Maria you’ll want to return to watch. It’s he who’ll persuade you to stick with the transition patiently. He who’ll tip the balance over whether a match ticket or your season book is worth the outlay. Whether the trip to MK Dons in the Capital One Cup on a grimy Tuesday night is one to miss or unmissable.

Let’s be clear. None of the Madrid players wanted him to leave. Carlo Ancelotti didn’t want him to leave. The Argentinian was Man of the Match in that Champions League final, he was a key figure in Argentina reaching the World Cup final and he tends to ‘turn up’ when the pressure is high.

Go and watch his cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to head the winner in the 2011 Copa del Rey final against Barcelona. It’s poetry. It’s utterly beautiful. His goal in the Copa del Rey final win (2-1 against Barcelona again] last season (above); his glorious, nonchalant winner lofted over the Nigerian keeper in the Beijing Olympic Final. Then there’s his 49 assists and 36 goals since joining Madrid in 2010.

Big skills, big game temperament.

Obviously, the world of football isn’t all ambrosia, there are thwarted ambitions too.

Louis Van Gaal

So You Are A Star …

Di Maria is an Argentinian footballer, used to life in Iberia who doesn’t have great English playing for a Dutch coach whose Spanish can be rusty. He’s joining an ailing UK giant in a league which no foreigner fails to be surprised at when they encounter its fury and its fireworks. It’s a test.

More, di Maria is a star, superbly remunerated now and will draw massive attention wherever he goes. These are usually concepts which are anathema to van Gaal. It’s imperative that the two men hit it off. Promptly.

What will help is what one of Van Gaal’s former assistants taught the player known as the ‘noodle’ because of his pipe-cleaner frame.

During his time at Madrid, Mourinho taught me that I wasn’t a ‘pure’ forward. That I couldn’t rest every time the strikers lost the ball. He taught me to give more to the team throughout the game and the di Maria of today compared to how I began playing bears no resemblance tactically or technically.

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Street fighting man …

To give the Dutch manager a clue how to handle this guy here’s di Maria on Ancelotti: “When things got tough he didn’t say very much and just made sure that I was in the starting line-ups, even when it felt like everyone else was criticising me.

That trust gave me the confidence to play my part for the team. He wanted me to attack, defend, to run and keep on running. He wanted me to make sacrifices.

Di Maria adds: “A footballer’s career is so short. I treat every match as if I was playing my mates in the street. I adore winning. I feel inferior to nobody and my attitude now is that whenever we don’t have the ball I want to contribute to winning it back as quickly as possible, to press the life out of our opponents. I want the ball.”

And when he begins to be given it by his United team mates everyone who’s still to learn about this youth World Champion, Olympic Gold medallist and Champions League winner will see exactly why.

United may need more quality before the market ends. But in this position they could barely have done better.

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Graham Hunter: What Manchester United fans should know about David de Gea, his character, and his future at the club

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That little notebook into which Louis van Gaal constantly scribbles while he’s on the bench during a match has become infamous – iconic of the irascible, eccentric but successful Dutchman.

Because we’re amongst friends, and this’ll remain hush-hush and strictly off the record, I’ll share with you what he was frantically jotting down on Tuesday night at about 9.35pm just after Manchester United scraped past Stoke.

(NB: Just like the very best method actors van Gaal insists on getting ‘into character’ so he writes in English now)

It went like this: Memo to Self

Tomorrow Morning: Phone José de Gea and thank him for travelling 100km per day to and from Atlético’s training ground when his kid was living in Illascas south of Madrid without which David would never have made it as a professional.

Next: Phone Martin Ferguson and praise him for spotting de Gea, with the Spanish youth set up as well as Atletico’s reserves, and identifying above all that this guy would become ‘a world class shot-stopper’.

Then: Fish out Eric Steele’s number and tell him he’s a ‘shtand-up fellow’ for insisting that despite de Gea’s lack of excellence [and physical power] in dealing with crosses – even in Spain, not just in Premier League terms – that ‘it’ll be fine, we can improve that aspect no problem. Tell the manager to sign him’.

Also: Have a quiet word with Giggshy who’s the guy that has ‘most surprised’ and deeply impressed de Gea since he arrived and who he still calls ‘the Number One!’ Get him to tell the boy we want more of the same.

Finally – FIX MEETING WITH ED WOODWARD. Subject: DE GEA NEW CONTRACT.

There you have it. It’s not always about Zonal Marking.

Louis van Gaal

Van Gaal then donned his ‘stone-face’ in the press room and trotted out some stuff about ‘De CHHHHHHEaaa’ not doing too badly. But that didn’t cover the debt he and United owe the Spaniard.

De Gea is now, in relative terms, almost precisely where he was with Atletico Madrid in mid 2011. Glitteringly good, a stand-out amongst the club’s assets, immensely popular with the paying punters and fellow players – but also in need of being challenged by ‘the next step’.

Which does not mean, automatically, that his next step in this phase of his career either requires to be, or is going to be, departing for a new challenge. Not at all.

Back in 2011 de Gea was part of an Atlético which was on the rise. Europa League and Uefa Supercup winners but surrounded by a third of a team which would survive and thrive, and another two thirds which would be moved on.

A bright future for Diego Godín, Diego Costa, Koke, Raúl García and Juanfran but lights out for Tomas Ujfalusi, Jorge Pulido, José Antonio Reyes, Antonio López, Quique Sanchez Flores, Elias, Paulo Assunção and Juan Valera.

United-watchers can choose whether Rafael, Antonio Valencia, Jonny Evans, Anders Lindegaard, Anderson, Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Phil Jones, and Radamel Falcao fit into the ‘bright future/lights out’ categories.

But de Gea is right up there with the current United equivalent versions of Diego Costa, Koke and Diego Godín in 2011.

Just as they were then, United’s Spanish keeper is on the brink of a handful of very special years. Already a trophy-winner, already of proven quality, he nevertheless has what van Gaal calls ‘room for improvement’ but is also on the verge of stepping up and dominating completely.

De Gea’s soft underbelly when he arrived – concentration, upper body strength, speed of English-learning, diet, cutting-edge attitude – is well enough known and understood not to need re-hashing here.

José De Gea admits: “We had no idea of the size and grandeur of United. “Everyone tells you it’s ‘not just any club’ but until you arrive and see how they work, how they manage their football, you’ve got no real idea of the scale of it.”

Suffice to say, you can choose your iconic moment which best signifies his son’s subsequent excellence.

Freeze frame of the save from Mame Diouf against Stoke?

Marcos Rojo lunging into his arms to embrace him for saving those points?

De Gea ecstatically lifting the 2013 Premier League trophy? [His dad, Joel, still calls it ‘winning La Barclays]

Or him being handed trophies for being in the Premier League best XI and after being awarded the United player of the season vote?

Twitter chose mocked-up images of de Gea from the Matrix, de Gea as Superman, de Gea as the son of god after the Stoke game. They get excited on Twitter.

If Ed Woodward were to allow fans and sponsors an ‘open day’ at his office they’d probably come to an understanding that while de Gea’s new deal hasn’t been ‘put off’ [he’s out of contract in summer 2016] such has been the flurry of buying, selling and sacking at the club, the Spaniard has moved into a holding pattern.

If once Sir Alex Ferguson was seriously mulling over a bid to either challenge, or replace, De Gea with Asmir Begovic, then United are totally clear that they are now not seeking a new No1 keeper. A right back, a central defender and a winger, yes.

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Along with what’s on offer to de Gea financially if he renews [which I believe he will do] is the promise from United’s most important figures – board, executives, coaching staff – that next summer’s push will be to put them on a par, quality-wise, in terms of squad depth and in terms of trophy aspirations, with Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti (above).

That would signify the equivalent surge forward which de Gea is now ready to take in personal, physical, psychological and professional terms. Just turned 24, for all his quite-evident excellence de Gea remains a footballer who thrives best under pressure.

The pressure of being prodded, cajoled and bullied [in a good sense] into adopting new standards by ex keeper coach Eric Steele. The pressure of impressing and winning the trust of Ferguson, particularly while being rotated with Lindegaard. The pressure of having lots of work to do during games. Perhaps even the pressure of having Victor Valdés around the training ground too.

It wouldn’t surprise me if the Catalan’s training/rehab spell at Carrington may have both troubled his international team mate – and driven him on to still greater effort.

De Gea always admired Edwin van der Sar, Iker Casillas and Peter Schmeichel but was most inspired, most influenced by Valdés, his football skills, his ferocity of attitude and his ability to deal with a defence playing as much as 30 metres higher up the pitch than him.

That the former Barça man is free, looking for a place to thrive in the Premier League and developed under van Gaal at the Camp Nou must have been unsettling. Typically, de Gea’s form has, if anything, improved.

Some keepers, like Valdés, thrive equally if they are making constant saves and interventions or if they have huge periods of inactivity then two or three crucial saves.

De Gea is beginning to emerge into that category – but United are not, yet, the team to take him there.

During this turbulent Van-Gaalization of the team and while the defending remains extremely raw the Spaniard will remain consistently occupied during matches.

But as/if the Woodward/Van Gaal revolution bears fruit United will once again dominate matches and de Gea will benefit from having his concentration tested differently.

The Spaniard is, if not timid, a quiet, home-loving, intensely serious and intense young man. He’s been fundamental in making sure that Ander Herrera settles in and is happy at United – the two of them and Juan Mata live within a stone’s throw of each other and they are the central core of the Spanish-society at United.

His sister and parents often come to stay with him in England, bringing Spanish food with them, and if anyone tells you that de Gea is in love with the climate of North Western England then challenge them on that assertion. The strategic question for de Gea and his representatives is whether United as a club, and as a squad, are in step with him – both now and over the next four years? Are they about to move up and become dominant?

The word on the training ground is that de Gea feels aware that ‘something is beginning to happen’ at the club. That the quality of signings is rising, that van Gaal is demanding in a way which will benefit those who wish to play and train as de Gea does.

Would Real Madrid love to have him? Yes.

Iker Casillas

With Iker Casillas on a mind-blowingly good contract for several more years and no more keen to hand over to de Gea at club than at Spain level would this coming summer be the time to succumb to that temptation rather than continue to develop, thrive and earn experience in the Premier League? No, probably not. Euro 2016 is at least a winnable tournament for Spain.

If de Gea wishes to be Vicente Del Bosque’s first-choice then better to be at a club where he is [while on form] guaranteed number one rather than take the huge risk of coping with the ire from fans of the club he supports [Atletico] and locking horns with Casillas at Madrid.

In order of priority Ed Woodward needs to convince de Gea that he’s at the right club, at the right time and renew his deal. Then de Gea must emerge into the category of Manuel Neuer and Thibault Courtois and Gigi Buffon – superb keepers but team leaders, intimidating rather than being simply impressive and must become a founding stone in the successful re-building of United.

Finally, if he has not already unseated him, he must be fully ready to take over from Iker Casillas in 18 months time as Spain’s number one.

Simples.

Graham Hunter is the author of ‘Spain: The Inside Story of La Roja’s Historic Treble’ and ‘Barca’. You can follow him on Twitter here

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Graham Hunter: What Arsenal fans should know about Alexis Sánchez and what Luis Suarez brings to Barca

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It all comes down to choices in the end.

Alexis Sánchez admitted to me the last time I interviewed him that his decision making when on the ball was still the part of his game which he most needed to improve.

Luis Suárez needs to choose to stop biting people. Or abusing them racially.

If each can fine-tune the synapses which have led them down the wrong road in the past then spectacular new chapters await them.

Liverpool's Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez (L) shoots to score his second goal during the English Premier League football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at White Hart Lane in London, England, on December 15, 2013. Liverpool won 5-0. AFP PHOTO/IAN KINGTON - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE. NO USE WITH UNAUTHORIZED AUDIO, VIDEO, DATA, FIXTURE LISTS, CLUB/LEAGUE LOGOS OR LIVE SERVICES. ONLINE IN-MATCH USE LIMITED TO 45 IMAGES, NO VIDEO EMULATION. NO USE IN BETTING, GAMES OR SINGLE CLUB/LEAGUE/PLAYER PUBLICATIONS. (Photo credit should read IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)

I’ve nailed my colours to the mast about each man in the past but, for those who have renewed interest because Alexis is now a Gooner and Suárez (above) with Barça.

Here goes…

There has been a tidal wave of appreciation for the Chilean since he scored that howitzer of a goal on the last day of the Spanish season – one which both looked improbable and, briefly, like it would Barcelona the title.

Alexis had a powerful World Cup, one which has naturally raised appreciation and expectation, but via performances which aren’t archetypical of his time at Barcelona.

What links him and Suárez, one of few things I think, is his infernal work attitude.

Playing against him can be a nightmare. In terms of his determination to press and win back possession you could compare him to an energetic puppy chasing a tennis ball. Non-stop, determined, agile, rapid – often successful in his task.

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Even though he’s wealthy now (he funnels a lot of money back into helping the Tocopilla community in which he grew up) Sanchez (above) admitted to me there were times when the family had to choose between buying food or either boots or a football for him.

Times were hard and he’s never lost that drive to succeed. He’d tell his mum that he was going to be a world-famous footballer and that he’d earn enough money for her to never have to work again and she’d laugh. And indulge him. And now look at him.

That same abundance of pace and energy lets him ‘show’ for run after run which will allow the passers in Arsenal’s midfield, Ramsey, Wilshire and Özil in particular, many more options about what to dow the ball in the two or three seconds after they receive it.

Some of his goals, notably that one against Atlético Madrid or the winner in last season’s Camp Nou Clásico, when he chipped Diego López after running from midfield, indicate that he’s got some truly spectacular finishes in his locker.

Yet while I’ve no wish to pour cold water on the bubbling excitement of Arsenal fans who presumably feel that Alexis could be a key element in finally winning the Premier League again, this is an incomplete player.

The Alexis who scored at Wembley to defeat England, who led Chile’s fightback against Brazil at the World Cup – this is not the identical forward who’s been at the Camp Nou for the last three years.

For Chile he was a leader…

When he arrived he was daunted by the big club atmosphere, by playing with Messi, by the insane media attention which Barcelona generates.

His play showed it. He’d score unfeasibly difficult goals and miss unfeasible numbers of run-of-the-mill chances.

He’d have a game where his understanding with Cesc would look like some form of footballing E.S.P and many more when he’d make wrong choices, go down blind alleys – allow energy to get the better of intelligence.

For Chile he’s a leader up front – his decisions take precedence over those around him, his runs are fed with passes, he’s the lone wolf. That suits him.

For Barcelona, less so…

At Barcelona Alexis constantly wrestled with the concept of whether he was supposed to be a lead actor pushing for the Oscar or simply the ‘best supporting’ guy. In each of his seasons he could, and should, have had nine or ten more goals and I have always believed that with the rise in importance of Alexis at Barcelona their absolute cutting edge in the biggest of games (Stamford Bridge in 2012 would be an example) has decreased.

My hope is that this World Cup, increasing personal and football maturity, plus the range of terrific passers around him paves the way for Arsenal fans to enjoy Alexis more than I’ve enjoyed him while playing in La Liga.

Suarez v Italy

Suarez is a different beast…

Suárez is obviously different. His ruthlessness is patently a stand-out characteristic – constantly battling with his technique and football intelligence for pre-eminence in that strangely-wired brain of his.

His footballing fit at Barcelona is, you’d say, still clearer than that of Alexis at Arsenal.

Suárez brings precisely the intensity, the will-to-win which Pep Guardiola saw waning as far back as spring 2012 when he chose to leave.

The Uruguayan’s goal record doesn’t stand comparison with that of Messi, he’s no more skilled than Messi, Iniesta, Xavi or Neymar for example – but he brings a ferocity, an all-out dedication to winning every ball, ever match, every trophy which seems unabated.

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Carlo deals with talent ‘overload’

Over the last three years he’s won two trophies, the League Cup and the Copa America, and this isn’t commensurate either with his ability or with the lava-hot moment of form which he’s in.

This is, principally, what Barcelona have bought. Right now the Catalan media is toeing the party lines.

They are whipping up support for the idea that Suárez’s ban is unfair, they are playing on the fact that Barcelona fans love to see players who will sweat blood for the jersey – there’s next to no questioning about whether this man’s behaviour over the last few years merits this club investing so much money in him.

Coincidentally, it’s probably Real Madrid who have done most to show that the problem of fitting an ‘overload’ of talent into an already star-laden team can be dealt with.

Carlo Ancelotti didn’t have a voice in the signing of Gareth Bale and tinkered with formations for weeks and weeks before finally moving Ángel Di Maria back to midfield and using Bale, Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo in a front three for much of the rest of the season while Madrid won the Copa Del Rey and Champions League.

It won’t necessarily be simple to fit Leo Messi, Neymar and Suárez together – but there are ways. Messi, for example, could easily play at no10 in a 4-2-3-1 which, hypothetically, could look like Bravo: Alves, Piqué, Bartra, Alba; Mascherano, Busquets; Iniesta, Messi, Neymar; Suárez.

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How will Barcelona play with Suarez?

Perhaps Luis Enrique will simply ask Messi and Neymar to play wide right and left with Suárez down the middle – he’s got the cojones to front up to his super-star players and tell them the ‘way it’s going to be’.

But enforcing it and making it succeed are two different things.

Quite how Barcelona have gone from a club trying to breath real life into its motto ‘Més que un Club’ and fielding teams which were largely home grown, unified in ethos and exemplified by the behaviour of Carles Puyol when he insisted that his cancer-surviving team mate Eric Abidal raise the Champions League trophy in his place to hiring a serial biter is a little depressing.

But once Suárez serves his ban it’s time for a new leaf and a new start.

Then, in light of the decisions Alexis and Suárez begin to make on and off the pitch, it’ll be clearer where the winners and losers in these deals, from Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal, La Liga and the Premier League may be.

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Graham Hunter: What Manchester United fans should know about Louis van Gaal, the potential fireworks with Wayne Rooney and the class of 2014

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The first time I prepared to interview Louis van Gaal he looked like a Hollywood villain.

It was Glasgow, 1996, and the Ajax manager was flanked by 6’3″ Winston Bogarde. Both men were wearing full-length leather coats which went from their necks practically to their ankles.

Big, haughty, they exuded: “We are Ajax. Who the **** are you” to everyone clamouring around them on their arrival at the airport.

Louis Van Gaal 1995

It seems that from that day to this van Gaal (above, lifting the European Cup with Ajax in 1995) possesses the capacity to intimidate and to misdirect people’s impressions.

Having interviewed him many times since and watched his work closely I know him to have mellowed, enormously, and that underneath the bark and the not inconsiderable bite there is a good-humoured, passionate, interesting and multi-faceted man.

Nevertheless, before it has even been announced that he’s the next Manchester United manager, it’s being written very strongly that Wayne Rooney is already on a collision course with the 62 year old Dutchman.

Van Gaal’s ticket in, is Rooney’s ticket out.

Patrick Kluivert

Patrick Kluivert celebrates after a World Cop qualifier with Holland in 2001 – he could be phenomenal with Rooney

United would be daft to ‘reject’ Kluivert

I beg to differ. Firstly, it strongly appears that van Gaal will succeed David Moyes as long as a couple of things don’t get in the way.

a)      IF he’s decided that he doesn’t want Ryan Giggs on his first team staff (and I emphasize the word IF) and United tell him that it’s either take Giggs or don’t take the job then van Gaal is more than capable of saying: “Give the job to someone else then.” In fact in that scenario that’s what I’d back him to say. But if Giggs plays his hand shrewdly he should stay. Van Gaal makes a habit of keeping a link-man from the club he’s inheriting – Jose Mourinho at Barcelona and Hermann Gerland at Bayern Munich are examples. It’s the conduit he uses to get to know the youth set up quickly.

b)      IF United deny him the chance to take Patrick Kluivert with him (which they’d be daft to do) it’s also perfectly within van Gaal’s compass to turn the job down.

c)      IF Bayern Munich are stupid enough to allow teething trouble to make them think that they need root canal surgery and IF Pep Guardiola departs but wants to coach again immediately then perhaps United may be tempted to stage a beauty parade between the 44 year old Catalan and his former Barcelona coach.

Otherwise United have got the perfect, and I mean close to lottery winning perfect, coach for the job in Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal, aka ‘Louis’.

But, back to the widely circulated idea that because Robin van Persie and van Gaal ‘fit’ well on the training ground and for the national team, and because Rooney is known to have the occasional ‘off-pitch moment’ upon which disciplinarians might frown, it’s curtains for United’s best player.

Instead, I think that how van Gaal and Rooney ‘fit’ might be quite interesting.

Jari Litmanen

Rooney’s Finnish inspiration…

For example: recently when I was interviewing the United No10 and asked him who he’d modelled himself on when he was younger, from whom he’d tried to learn it was a thrill to hear him say: Jari Litmanen (above, with Liverpool).

The Finn did have one particularly noble season at Liverpool and a shot at glory with Barcelona but his great days were with Louis van Gaal’s Ajax.

Rooney used to ask himself:

“How did Litmanen make that space for himself?”

“How did he compensate for not being particularly quick.”

The young Scouser used to feed off the Finn’s intelligence.

And it’s football intelligence and vision, even above obedience, that van Gaal rates most highly in one of his footballers. Technique and pace are right in the mix, naturally. But brains top his list.

Litmanen played in the No10 position for van Gaal – almost always with a striker (hypothetically van Persie) and two wingers ahead of him. Van Gaal would protect that ‘creative’ ’10′ position with two hard working, very clever ‘organising’ midfielders alongside it: Davids and Seedorf or Ronald De Boer for example

IF in Rooney van Gaal can find his new ‘Jari’ then the two men may well ‘click’.

Louis Van Gaal

Kluivert could show Rooney a thing or too…

As for Rooney’s infamous ‘personality’ he’s a winner who trains as he plays: all in, nothing left behind.

Van Gaal likes that. The root of his infamous spat with Luca Toni at Bayern Munich stemmed from the Italian training apathetically. Van Gaal wouldn’t have it. Not from anyone.

But if you want to, why not take a look at Patrick Kluivert?

If you blindfolded him and dumped him in Kazakstan he could find you a night club within about quarter of an hour.

All in all he could show any United player a thing or two about ‘off-pitch moments’ – but van Gaal likes and trusts the man and so he was given the chance to train and develop as a coach while van Gaal was winning the 2008/2009 Eredivisie with AZ Almaar and now Kluivert’s an assistant coach with the Dutch national team.

If you believed all the hype about the 62-year-old there would have been no way back into his life for Kluivert. The facts prove otherwise.

Van Gaal’s ferocity is a fact though. In the old training ground days at FC Barcelona, when we were allowed within about five metres of the training pitch, I’ve often seen the Dutch growler letting loose a stream of expletives while roaring at Rivaldo – at that time the FIFA world player of the year.

“RIVAALDOOOOOO, NOOOO! NO! ASI NO!”

“Rivaldo, no, no not like that.”

That’s how he’d break up a training drill and dress the Brazilian down, as if he were a trainee. He thought the Brazilian played too much for himself, not for the team. An unforgivable sin in van Gaal’s book.

Riquelme

‘You are not my player’

So TV reporter the Holland manager had fun with the other day when asked what he ‘knew about United’ only to be told that was a “stupid question” can be reassured that what he got was van Gaal-lite.

Previously he might have had a verbal dressing down, a kick up the backside and an order never to return until he got his act together.

It was also van Gaal, beginning his second and unsuccessful time at the helm of FC Barcelona who showed the ‘exit’ door to the same Juan Roman Riquelme who went on to thrill for Villarreal en route to the Champions League semi-final.

But to his credit van Gaal took Riquelme (pictured above), who’d been signed by Barça without the Dutchman’s involvement, and told him straight: ‘You aren’t my player, I don’t need you here – find yourself a team to go to on loan’.

Riquelme told me later:

“I was perfectly happy to be told, straight, rather than kept on and made to suffer on the bench until I got the message. Van Gaal treated me with respect by telling me to my face.”

I also recall the pain it caused van Gaal when midway through that season, he was sacked by Barça and he allowed tears of fury and frustration to escape his eyes as he insisted, to the last seconds of his ‘farewell’ press conference: “I AM the right man for this job!”

In those tears I don’t see weakness.

When he talked to TV reporters from the Dutch training camp this week, amongst whom was Sky Sports News’ admirable Gary Cotterill, he used the expression of ‘giving four years’ to Holland so that he could finally live his dream of coaching at a World Cup.

The expression was used advisedly.

Manchester United 1999

What LVG could do at Manchester United

If United get him he’ll ‘give’ everything. He’ll be obsessive, he’ll be driven, he’ll expect a drive for perfection from everyone around him and he’ll be savage with anyone who doesn’t think or act the same way.

It’s what he thought he was giving to Barcelona back then, hence the hot tears of frustration more than shame at failure.

His drive for perfection even extends to holiday homes. He kept his villa near Sitges for years after leaving Barcelona but then sold it and bought in Portugal (where he was hunted down by reporters seeking United comments from him) because: “I don’t think that we get as many sunny days in Barcelona now as when I first moved here. There are more cloudy days and so I’m going somewhere else.” Meteorological inadequacy wasn’t for Louis.

Finally, there is his merited fame for total belief in promoting from within the ranks as soon as he feels there is raw talent sufficiently technically able and sufficiently well-tutored in his philosophy of football.

Remember, in the United treble season of 1999 (pictured above) it was van Gaal who gave Xavi his Champions League debut, aged 18, for Barcelona at Old Trafford (how ironic) in the first of two 3-3 draws between the sides in that Group stage.

(Maybe the two men could re-unite there… who knows, stranger things have happened).

“I pick whoever is the right guy to fit in my 4-3-3 formation, because I always play that way. If he is a young player and he can do it then I select him – if he is old then no problem for me. Age is not an important factor for me”. Gospel of van Gaal.

Adnan Januzai

So what for the class of 2014

Andrés Iniesta (18) and Victor Valdés (20) followed as van Gaal debutants. It’s a strain which runs firmly through his career from 18 year old Kluivert coming on to win Ajax their first Champions League final in 1995 to full Bundesliga debuts for Thomas Müller, David Alaba and Holger Badstuber at Bayern aged 19, 17 and 20 respectively.

James Wilson, Tom Lawrence, Adnan Januzaj, Michael Keane and co couldn’t wish to be at a better place for their football development if van Gaal takes charge.

All in all I must say that I hope United get their man and their man gets United. Probably it was van Gaal who wrote the words to the Sham 69 hit ‘.. if the kids are United, then we’ll never .. be divided’.

Just as the ‘Class of 92′ hits the DVD shelves, the class of 2014 can hit the pitch.

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What the signing of Juan Mata means for Manchester United fans and the future of the club

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Take away the names Juan Mata and Manchester United and simply describe the bare bones of what just happened in the Premier League transfer market and it becomes hard, not to say impossible, to understand why the business David Moyes has just conducted isn’t being heralded with ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhs’ of appreciation.

Gary Neville and Paul Merson each made it clear that they doubt either the need or the wisdom of this move, admittedly without specifically putting Mata’s quality in doubt.

But this is what’s just happened.

A rich, hugely competitive rival with a deep, immensely talented and experienced squad has just been maneuvered into selling a reigning world and European champion player who has played exceptionally since moving to England, winning six club, country and individual trophies in those two years, and selling to a rival which desperately needed a leg up.

What’s that eternal hard-nosed saying about ‘never give a sucker an even break’?

Moreover, and this is the key theme, the player being sold to a direct rival embodies all the elements which that rival desperately needed — both in match-winning terms and just about every single other facet which makes a ‘great’ footballer in today’s horribly inflated market.

Ed Woodward’s difficulties

Long before it’s important to begin to say ‘how will he fit if Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney are both fit?’ or, the still more inane, ‘they needed a central midfielder or a left back as a higher priority?’ the key thing to look at is what made the purchase a phenomenally good piece of business.

Firstly, and no matter whether United fans who are suffering extreme pain at the team’s current performance give this any credit or not, the market has been an extremely difficult place for United to do business once it proved that Ed Woodward was only cutting his teeth in the summer.

  • In the lead-up to this market United’s scouts have done detailed work on up to 35 players. Mostly with a view to signing the right player at the right age for the right money this summer, but also to try and address the club’s current deficiencies.
  • David Moyes gave the go-ahead for a direct club to club enquiry for Marko Reus (below) of Borussia Dortmund but the idea got tangled up in what price it would take to get the player now and what price when a contractual clause kicks in this summer.

Marko Reus

So, who else is on the shopping list?

Alex Song was another player the United manager rated highly and was willing to move for but, like Diego Costa and left back Felipe Luis, the possibility of completing a deal isn’t something Barcelona or Atlético Madrid are willing to contemplate until the summer, at least.

Edinson Cavani, too, is potentially buyable, not being hugely impressed at having to play wide in Laurent Blanc’s Autumn-instituted 4-3-3 formation in order to accommodate Zlatan at centre forward. But, again, the potential for that to happen when PSG are tilting at a league and Champions League double is next to zero right now – different come May/June.

United are, right now, trying to make a deal for Luke Shaw happen irrespective of the player’s affiliation for Chelsea. Whether Shaw thinks he wants to work with Moyes right now or jockey for position when there might be a queue of clubs in the summer is an interesting dilemma which might not favour the reigning champions.

All of this is to emphasise that if anyone was confused that Mata was bought, instead of a ball-winning, organising central midfielder, a centre back or a left back then it’s important to understand that when quality becomes available you snap it up — even if that means a rescheduling of priorities.

So, back to Mata.

United need more ‘cojones’

I don’t think that anyone, not even United’s harshest critic this season, would say that the squad is without talent.

But they’ve lacked edge, flair, confidence. ‘Cojones’ they’d say in Spain.

The Ferguson-United ethos that ‘no odds are too great’, ‘no team will desire the win more than us’ — they seem to have evaporated to a great deal.

Rafa

At this early stage I judge it harsh to be laying culpability for that at the door of David Moyes. I’ve seen it happen twice before here in Spain.

  • Once when Rafa Benitez (above), an immensely demanding task master and someone who was inordinately attentive to every single detail of daily work, departed you could hear the collective sigh of ‘we can let our belts out now’ from the Valencia squad. Those who had chafed under his yoke, those who gave more because he demanded so much from them every hour of every day (yielding the most productive trophy spell in Valencia’s history) relaxed. Consciously or subconsciously.
  • The same happened when Pep Guardiola left Barcelona. Ask any of his players, any single one, and they’ll admit that he was ‘pesado‘. It means he could be a right pain in the backside. On their backs all the time: over diet, over intensity in training, over lifestyle, over how early they went to bed at night — he even swore crudely at Alexis Sanchez right in front of live TV cameras at match when the Chilean broke down injured right after coming back from international duty.

Standards have slipped

When Guardiola left, burned out, this fabulous group of players also let standards slip. Very marginally, but it had an effect. Just for comparison, Guardiola was at Barcelona for four years, Benitez for three — Ferguson, you may recall, at United for 27.

There has been a patently evident relaxation. More than one squad and staff member at United has mentioned it to to me.

Juan Mata in 2009

Mata (pictured above in 2009 with Valencia) brings a great deal beyond his evident playing skills.

Knowing him, having watched him train day in day out for two months with Spain at World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 I can tell you that his work ethic is voracious.

Whether he’s in the team or not each training session is treated like life or death. Whether he’s in the starting XI or not every colleague is to be helped, encouraged, chided — made better.

Mata is a team player.

Sometimes, particularly when there is a ‘losing’ dynamic confidence, arrogance, self-belief, luck… evaporate more quickly than snow in an oven.

Mata’s purchase holds a key to re-establishing some of those.

Depending on whether David Moyes retains his preference for 4-2-3-1 Mata can play in any, and I mean every one, of the front four positions.

Might that mean Wayne Rooney having to move left on occasion if Mata plays int he No10 role? It might.

Would that be the end of the world? Hardly.

Is Mata more likely to play wide left in that formation? Yes.

But if Moyes moved to 4-3-3 Mata could also play in any of the front three positions if, tactically, that was required of him.

RVP desperate to win Champions League

Moreover, what I fail to understand about those who first carp about the need for Mata based on the presence of RVP and Rooney is the following: how often have the two of them been fit together this season? How guaranteed is it that United can seal this new contract which, admittedly, Rooney has indicated he’s interested in? Also, Van Persie told me how centrally important it is for him to win the Champions League. In all good faith, if he sees that as being a distant prospect with United then is he at Old Trafford for the remainder of his career… or not?

Now the fans. They don’t win matches but they can certainly help to contribute to a ‘malaise’ at a club which is starting to drift… or to challenge, no DEMAND, more from players who have begun to coast.

What’s needed for the positive side of that equation is something to rally round, to believe in.

Mata gives them that. Instinctively, I guarantee, he’ll give the most loyal and passionate United fans a work ethic, a commitment to winning, a style and a sporting aggression which they will recognize as what they’d apply if they were playing. He’s a rallying point.

Others, around him, will need to respond and work harder.

Another positive facet of this deal centres on David de Gea. Excluding that horrible fumble in the League Cup semi final against Sunderland last week the Spanish keeper has been a success. Last season he’d have been assessed as a central part of the title win.

Right now there are sufficient rumours circulating about how happy he is to renew his deal at United, rather than perhaps replace Thibaut Courtois back at Atlético Madrid, that it’s worth the club focussing hard on him.

If he’s content, if his development continues and given the other re-building priorities at the club it would heavily suit United not to have to start thinking about buying a new keeper.

De Gea and Mata played together in a winning European U21 Spain side and the striker’s arrival will clearly signify to his countryman that the club mean to respond to the current slump.

The two men get on, it’s a positive step and you’d not bet against another Spaniard joining them.

Jose Mourinho wink

Of the U21 squad which won their Euro in 2011 De Gea, Ander Herrera, Thiago, Javi Martinez and Juan Mata made Uefa’s All-Star squad.

United have now bought two — bid for Ander and Thiago while Javi Martinez remains the absolute stand-out player United missed when Bayern nipped in to wrench him away from Athletic Bilbao. IF he doesn’t get sufficient game time in Pep Guardiola’s midfield, don’t rule out an offer from Old Trafford for the fabulous ball winning midfielder.

So, all of this. All these myriad reasons why the Mata deal is super business plus the basic fact that this is a fabulous footballer who will, when United are in a penalty shoot out against Sunderland or when they are poised at 1-1 at home against Cardiff in the FA Cup, produce winning goals and assists.

Whether Jose Mourinho (above) and Chelsea go on to deeply regret the sale is, given their squad, a moot point. But all of United’s rivals from this week forward most certainly will.

Good business.

    • Agree with Graham’s view on Juan Mata? Let us know in the comments section…

 

 

 

 

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