Louis van Gaal ‘forced’ to sign Ghanaian striker Memphis Depay for Manchester United
Louis van Gaal has admitted some of his Manchester United players will not respond well to the competition provided by the signing of a striker of Ghanaian descent Memphis Depay or any new player because the manager says it can be “too much pressure”.
Louis van Gaal has admitted some of his Manchester United players will not respond well to the competition provided by the signing of Memphis Depay or any new player because the manager says it can be “too much pressure”.
The winger is due to join United at the close of the season for around £25m from PSV Eindhoven. Van Gaal revealed he was forced to intervene to acquire Depay now or the 21-year-old would have signed for Paris Saint-Germain and the manager does not think the impending arrival will spur on all his current squad. “For some players i it’s not like that – t’s too much pressure and they cannot cope sometimes,” Van Gaal said. “It always affects them. It’s not always very good. Now we have to give more balance in our selection. It is not always good for every player because they have to cope with the pressure of not playing, to accept it and to train very hard in spite of that.”
Van Gaal said he did not want to finalise the deal until the end of the season. “I have been forced to sign him. I don’t want to sign him before the end of the season; we have to focus on our games. When you sign a player you disturb the focus of your present group of players. The coming matches are very important for Manchester United and for all of the players. But because of the market I must handle it because otherwise he would have signed for PSG. That is why I signed Memphis. But we have to speak about Crystal Palace, not Memphis Depay or David de Gea or something like that.”
United travel to Palace for Saturday’s evening kick-off having lost their past three. Van Gaal said Depay might have signed for PSG “because at that time he was not reached [contacted] by me. I don’t want to speak with players before the season has ended. I have also a feeling to my players. But now, because of the close relationship I have with PSV, I could handle it,” he said.
Despite the three straight losses United are four points ahead of Liverpool in the final Champions League berth with only three matches left and Van Gaal believes it is Brendan Rodgers’s team who should be concerned. “I think Liverpool has to worry because they have to regain points, not us. It is in our own hands.”
The manager gave his players an extra day off this week to recuperate. “To clean their heads and recover the body,” Van Gaal said. “An extra day. Because of the three defeats in a row.”
Michael Carrick will miss the rest of the campaign with a calf injury and Van Gaal indicated the midfielder’s career was nearing its end at the club. “When you see the stats, it’s clear that he’s very important but that’s also because we have only one right-sided holding midfielder. That’s what I am saying already in the whole of the season, that our selection is not balanced, and I want to restore that in the next transfer period. The life is not ending at 34, but for a professional football player, it’s close by. That’s why I have to handle again in that position.”
A virus may rule out James Wilson for Saturday together withRobin van Persie, though Van Gaal would not name who else may be absent.
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