“We’ve had new players come in, quality players, and we feel they can give us an extra gear to what we had last season“, he told MUTV.
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“I don’t know where he is,” Van Gaal admitted to a press conference.
United have already signed Memphis Depay, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian and Sergio Romero this summer. Blind’s competition Marcos Rojo is hardly an assured centre-half so United need to invest in that area to improve their chances of a successful season.
Sky sources understand United want more than the £44m figure quoted in several national newspapers on Friday and are aiming to secure a deal around the £50m mark for the 27-year-old.
However Barcelona have moved on to refute claims that a bid for Pedro has been made by United and have insisted that they have not received any approach for the Spanish worldwide whatsoever.
French global Matuidi raced forward and got between Luke Shaw and Phil Jones to toe-poke home past the onrushing de Gea and make it 1-0.
The Brazilian fullback advanced and then calmly picked out Ibrahimovic with the return pass for the Swedish star to slot past de Gea.
United’s next match is their first game of the Barclays Premier League season against Tottenham at Old Trafford on August 8.
With Ramos said to be close to signing a new deal with Madrid, De Gea’s move looks further away.
Sports media outlets in France point out that the signing is imminent, adding that PSG will secure the transfer from United for about 63 million euros ($69.5 million).
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While Van Gaal continues to refuse to discuss Di Maria’s future in public, United are now privately keen to draw a line under what has become an expensive mistake by selling the winger to PSG. Last year I was forced to use, for example, Tyler Blackett and Jesse Lingard in the first Premier League match. Maybe you know? I don’t know.
