Louis Van Gaal has confessed that he could be searching for a striker in January transfer window following unconvincing performances from his main men Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial, according to goal.
The Dutch tactician hasn’t had it easy all season with United struggling to play Attacking football and now he appears to be open to signing a new striker amongst other options to make United mercurial in front of goal.
The likes of Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney haven’t put in the type of goal return that was expected from the duo, as Martial’s big-money move in the summer carried huge expectations.
But even on that front Martial has somewhat been the better player this season with his English counterpart Wayne Rooney having a more torrid time in front of goal.
Van Gaal doesn’t have a great record when it comes to transfers as the Dutch tactician has allowed his top performers to leave and brought in relatively average players for huge sums of money.
The likes of Javier Hernandez and Robin Van Persie left United earlier this season, only to become top performers for their next clubs, with Chicharito most notably making waves in the Bundesliga.
Despite a below par performance this season, LVG still has some belief in Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney, claiming that they can find their rhythm back sooner than later to give United a much needed boost. Although, the Premier League trophy already looks lost for the Red Devils at this stage taking their disheartening performances into consideration.
“I think that we also need the luck of a striker,” said Van Gaal.
“There are several players who played in the striker’s position. They need luck. How many players have had chances to score and why didn’t they score? You cannot always explain that.
“We’re always looking for solutions in the team, but we still have a good team, and we can still score goals. I’m convinced of that. But we also need a little bit of luck.”
While recognising that United could sign a proven striker in January, Van Gaal insisted that those already in the team were good enough to succeed.
“It can be solved with money, but also on the training pitch. We’re training, but scoring goals is a quality,” he said.
“We have that quality, but at this moment, there’s a lack of confidence at the right time or we need to buy another striker.
“It’s always like that.”
When quizzed about the summer exits of Robin Van Persie and Javier Hernandez he said he let them go to bring out the best in his first choice strikers [Rooney and Martial] .
“I don’t believe too much in competition,” he explained.
“I believe in trust and confidence. Maybe that’s wrong, but I have done it all my life as a manager. I give trust to the players.
“We could have kept all the strikers, but then there would have been a lot of strikers in the stands. They’re not happy then, they want to leave. It’s the story of Hernandez, for example. He wants to play, but I can imagine that he can’t always play.
“Too many strikers of high quality for the same position is too much pressure, but now I don’t have the chance to change. Now I have given confidence to the players to play there.”
Van Gaal has come under intense pressure this season following United’s mediocre performances, and he will be looking to get the most out of his attacking options in the upcoming games knowing fully well that his future as Manchester United manager hangs in the balance.
Lucas Moura and 21-year-old Juventus striker Paulo Dybala have been among the players linked with a move to Old Trafford in January, but it remains to be seen if a formal bid will be made.
