It was another stormy press conference from Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal where he seemed not a little annoyed by the intensity of the media. Welcome to England mate! But he did give some insight into the main areas of speculation this week.
Injuries
Phil Jones remains the only player sidelined but Louis also said that Marcos Rojo needs more fitness before being considered for selection.
As for Bastian Schweinsteiger, the mercurial Dutch master reckons that the German monolith may now be fit enough to start against Newcastle:
Pedro
Louis was prickly about a matter which was of course bound to come up.
He said that just because Pedro boiled his potatoes, didn’t mean that he actually wanted to sign the Barca substitute.
LVG: “When I said Pedro fitted the profile I could not lie. I said yes. You (the media) said I was interested.”
“You put my comments into another context. I never said he was coming.”
LVG: “I have the idea you want to separate Ed Woodward with me. Never. Never, because every day I am updated by him and I trust him.”
“You have to wait to see. We have 28 players. We did it last season without Pedro.”
Reporter: What’s happening with Sadio Mane?
Louis van Gaal : “I cannot answer that question because I cannot interfere. It’s for Ed Woodward.”
And in terms of the situation with Manchester United keeper David de Gea the story remains the same:
“I said three weeks ago that we shall evaluate De Gea after 1 September. No-one wants to listen.”
And with that he departed with all the purpose of a man on a very serious mission.
We can draw from this conference that the Pedro deal didn’t go down as planned.
Mane is on the radar but Louis says the buck stops with Woodward.
And Basti is now fit enough to start matches for Manchester United but David de Gea will probably remain on the sidelines until September.
