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With Antonio Conte recently revealing that he felt that Chelsea’s failure to sign Romelu Lukaku and Virgil van Dijk caused their tenure at the Blues to start to unravel, GIVEMESPORT has been examining the other main transfer goals that Big Six managers set for. they lost before finally getting fired.
And today it’s the turn of Louis van Gaal, who had some very interesting things to say a few months ago about Manchester United’s decision to fire him from their services a year before their contact expired, despite the fact that his last game in charge it was a victory. Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final.
In fact, the Dutchman listed no fewer than ten top-class players that he hoped to attract Old Trafford, only for Ed Woodward and company to fail to make his vision come true.
He named so many big stars that we can’t even include them all, but van Gaal has given us more than enough to consider what United’s starting XI would have looked like had he had his many transfer wishes.
The defense
Van Gaal can’t have too many complaints in the winger department; United signed Luke Shaw under his supervision, at the time paying a record fee for a teenager, while Antonio Valencia clinched the No. 2 spot under the Dutchman and later served as club captain during the José Mourinho era .
There were also no plans to expel David De Gea. Indeed, United’s devotion to keeping him at Old Trafford resulted in the infamous summer 2015 fax fiasco, much to the chagrin of Real Madrid.
Van Gaal, however, wanted major changes to the heart of the defense to ensure United had the technical quality to build the game from behind. Sergio Ramos and Mats Hummels, a duo of World Cup winning center-backs, are among the best of their generation when it comes down to it.
But Ramos signed a new contract at the Bernabéu in 2015 and Hummels traded Dortmund for Bayern a year later. Instead, van Gaal often had to settle for Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, hardly the epitome of ball-playing center-backs.
Midfield
In the engine room, van Gaal wanted to bring in N’Golo Kante and while it was unclear if that was in the summer before or after Leicester’s miraculous title win with the French executor at its core, he nonetheless commented on his Dismay in Chelsea managed to sign him in his place.
Since moving to West London, Kante has won a Premier League title, an FA Cup, a Europa League and a World Cup, and is generally regarded as one of the best game-breaking midfielders in the world. However, Van Gaal acquired the services of Ander Herrera, who enjoyed five solid seasons at Old Trafford.
Right in front of him, we have placed Wayne Rooney and Thomas Muller. Having risen to fame at Bayern Munich with van Gaal, the former United manager would no doubt have known how to get the best out of Muller, who last season helped lead the German giants to the Champions League title.
Meanwhile, Rooney completes an incredibly offensive pair at the No. 8 positions. But if there is one midfielder in the world who can provide enough energy and protection to make it work, it is without a doubt Kante.
Strike force
If you thought Van Gaal’s dream midfield was impressive, attacking strength is something else entirely. The former Barcelona player has revealed that he wanted United to think as big as possible and therefore coveted the signing of a certain Neymar, you know, that little Brazilian who keeps trying to prove that he is better than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel. Messi.
Van Gaal’s interest in then-Southampton star Sadio Mane in 2015 was initially met with raised eyebrows after a productive but not exactly fascinating first season at St. Mary’s. But hindsight tells us LVG got this one right: Mane has been a crucial part of the Liverpool team that has won the Champions League and the Premier League over the past two seasons.
At the head of what is frankly an incredible team is Robert Lewandowski, one of the best center forwards in the world for the past decade. But instead of joining United at the beginning of van Gaal’s reign, the Polish striker moved to Bayern Munich for free, where he won six Bundesliga titles and a Champions League.
Meanwhile, back at Old Trafford, an aging striking force of Rooney and Robin van Persie was supplemented by an ill-fated loan move for Radamel Falcao and later a big-money raid for an incredibly young Anthony Martial.
Would things have turned out differently for LVG?
Ultimately, this starting XI should be taken with a pinch of salt. Van Gaal’s dream team is exactly that: a team that blends some of the best talent in world football that even United would struggle to afford to muster in the space of just four transfer windows.
However, since van Gaal received his marching orders in the summer of 2016, that starting XI has won five Europa League titles, 18 national titles, five Champions League titles and a World Cup.
So if Woodward had been able to make most of this a reality at Old Trafford, United would certainly have been much more competitive in the Premier League title race with van Gaal and potentially pressed for European honors as well.
Perhaps the most impressive thing about this XI, considering it was planned more than four years ago, is how all the players involved, with the exception of Valencia, continue to be at the top of European football. That hints at something of a dynasty at Old Trafford, albeit one created at staggering cost.
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