Van Gaal reign off to a rocky start

LOUIS VAN GAAL arrived in English football in May 2014. He was confirmed as the long-term successor for David Moyes after Ryan Giggs’ brief spell as caretaker-boss. The Dutchman was expected to regain United’s status as a major power in English football following David Moyes’s brief, unhappy spell as Sir Alex Ferguson’s successor. But things did not go well for Van Gaal, despite being heavily backed in the transfer market to the tune of £130million. His first signings were midfielder Ander Herrera for £29m from Athletic Bilbao and defender Luke Shaw for £30m from Southampton. He followed that up by recruiting two Argentinians, defender Marcos Rojo for £18m from Sporting Lisbon and winger Ángel Di María from Real Madrid for £59.7m – which was a British record fee at the time. On transfer deadline day, Van Gaal signed Daley Blind from Ajax for £14m and was granted an extension to take Radamel Falcao to Old Trafford on loan from Monaco for a reported £6m. But the spending spree did not deliver immediate results. Van Gaal lost his first competitive game in charge of the Reds – 2-1 at home to Swansea in the opening game of the new term. United suffered the embarrassment of losing 4-0 at League One MK Dons in the second round of the League Cup. After 10 league matches, they were in ninth place with 13 points and three victories, which made it their worst start to the season since 1986–87 under Ron Atkinson. Van Gaal reacted to the poor form by saying it would take three years for his United team to reach full potential. Eventually he did spark a revival of sorts. United finished his debut season in fourth place, three places higher and with six points more than the previous campaign.