Manchester United Manager Louis Van Gaal Targets Alexis Sanchez As His First Major Summer Signing

Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal may still be focused on his current job as coach of the Netherlands national team but he’s already planning ahead with United with his intention to sign winger Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona.

As Barcelona schemes to reboot after having one of their worst seasons in recent memory, Van Gaal plans to take advantage of the Blaugrana by trying to attain the Chile native after having the best season of his career. The 25-year-old had 21 goals and 15 assists in 54 appearances. When Lionel Messi went down with injury, he and Pedro carried the scoring load to help Barcelona stay afloat. Currently, the Red Devils are full of wide players and to bring in Sanchez some players will have to go for it to not be a clog at that position.

“United would want to sell one or two of their forward players to ensure Van Gaal’s squad remains uncluttered if Sanchez were to arrive. This would mean that Nani, Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia and Shinji Kagawa, plus possibly the strikers Javier Hernandez and Danny Welbeck, could be under threat as the manager assesses his new squad and how he wants the side to play,” said Jamie Jackson in The Guardian newspaper.

Van Gaal is a tactical mastermind so once the World Cup ends and he has time to study his new team, he’ll get an idea of which philosophy he wants his side to follow. The 62-year-old came up in the Ajax school of teaching as a player, assistant coach and a Champions League winning manager so he prefers the 4-3-3 formation where his wingers orchestrate of the attack.

Since Thomas Muller has signed a new contract with Bayern Munich today, Van Gaal will not be reunited with his former protege and this intensifies his desire to get versatile attacking players. Barcelona’s new gaffer Luis Enrique has to evaluate his club and decide where he needs to improve the team. Reports are that he is letting Cesc Fabregas go and this isn’t a wise decision. Fabregas has been unfairly viewed as a scapegoat when Barcelona needed to really look at Xavi and understand he’s past his prime and needs to become the new Carles Puyol by being a leader from the bench. If Enrique agrees to let Sanchez go this will be another mistake the club will eventually regret.