Louis van Gaal set to sanction Manchester United player exodus

Miami: Louis van Gaal will finalise his transfer plans with Ed Woodward, the Manchester United executive vice-chairman, this week after admitting to being close to deciding on the futures of several members of his first-team squad.

Van Gaal, who was due to return to Manchester with his squad on Tuesday following Monday night’s International Champions Cup win against Liverpool in Miami, insisted he would hand each of his players the chance to safeguard their United futures during the five-game tour of the United States.

But, with Atletico Madrid pursuing Javier Hernandez and Shinji Kagawa and Napoli attempting to finalise a loan move for Marouane Fellaini, Van Gaal is ready to sanction the departures of out-of-favour players to reshape his squad ahead of his first campaign in charge of United.

He has insisted he is in no rush to add to his squad, having been impressed by the performances of youngsters such as Tyler Blackett, Reece James and Michael Keane during the two-week trip.

But it is understood that Van Gaal is keen to add an experienced centre-half, with Borussia Dortmund’s Mats Hummels favoured ahead of Arsenal’s Thomas Vermaelen, and another central midfielder to his squad before the transfer deadline on September 1.

With Patrice Evra having left United for Juventus last month, Van Gaal will also task Woodward with recruiting a left-back to compete with £27 million (Dh167 million) signing Luke Shaw.

Van Gaal’s first objective, however, is to decide the futures of the likes of Hernandez, Kagawa and fellow unsettled players such as Nani and Anderson, sidelined with a calf injury, when he returns to Manchester.

“I shall make judgements after this tour,” Van Gaal said. “I let all the players play and I know now more than before the tour. Now it is a little bit soon to judge, but in football you have to judge and you have to give a chance to the player to make a transfer when I see that his prospects to play are not so high. I will tell players after the tour.”

Hernandez, who scored the third goal in Saturday’s 3-1 victory against Real Madrid in Michigan, has grown frustrated with his lack of opportunities and could be sold before the start of the new season if Atletico confirm their interest.

With Van Gaal ready to experiment with Wilfried Zaha as a forward, Hernandez may be allowed to leave for a fee of around £12 million. Kagawa could follow the Mexican forward to Madrid as Van Gaal has confirmed £37.1 million club-record signing Juan Mata as his favoured selection in the No. 10 role between the midfield and forwards.

Talks between United and Napoli over Fellaini have yet to reach a conclusion, with the Italian club only prepared to strike a loan deal rather than sign the £27.5 million Belgian midfielder permanently.

Interest from Juventus and Inter Milan in Portuguese winger Nani has subsided, but Van Gaal is prepared to sell the former Sporting Lisbon player after being impressed by the performances of Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia in the States.

Meanwhile, Van Gaal has confirmed that Robin van Persie, Adnan Januzaj and Fellaini all have an outside chance of starting the season after delaying their returns to training following World Cup duty.

Januzaj and Fellaini returned to training at Carrington last week having missed the American tour because of their involvement with Belgium at the World Cup. Both are unlikely to feature in next Tuesday’s friendly against Valencia at Old Trafford ahead of the Premier League opener at home to Swansea City on August 16.