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| David De Gea has been heavily linked with a move to Real Madrid |
First and foremost is the goalkeeping dilemma. Van Gaal suggested after United’s defeat to Paris St Germain in their last tour game here that Real Madrid’s interest in David De Gea has affected the Spain No1’s focus.
De Gea made an uncharacteristic error with a clearance early in the game then reacted slowly to a through ball, with the ensuing communication mix-up with Phil Jones and Luke Shaw leading to Shaw putting through his own net.
Van Gaal didn’t explain why De Gea was taken off at half-time but the fact he has played only 107 minutes on tour and is in danger of being seriously under-cooked for the new season is not the only concern.
United’s decision to play hard ball with De Gea and keep him for the last year of his contract when he clearly wants to join Real ignores the fear that his form and focus could dip on a regular basis, as it did at the Solider Field.
Van Gaal didn’t explain why De Gea was taken off at half-time but the fact he has played only 107 minutes on tour and is in danger of being seriously under-cooked for the new season is not the only concern.
United’s decision to play hard ball with De Gea and keep him for the last year of his contract when he clearly wants to join Real ignores the fear that his form and focus could dip on a regular basis, as it did at the Solider Field.
From being United’s saviour on so many occasions last season, there is a danger De Gea could become a liability if his head and heart are not in the right place.
Van Gaal may even decide to leave him out for the Spurs game but there is no obvious replacement because new signing Sergio Romero has only just arrived and has yet to play a game for United because his international clearance had not come through in time for him to figure against PSG.
It would be expecting a lot of the Argentina international to go straight into his debut in English football without any competitive football since the Copa America final early last month.
Van Gaal has bombed out last season’s No2 Victor Valdes and clearly does not rate Anders Lindegaard. It leaves youngster Sam Johnstone who played the most minutes of any of the goalkeepers on tour – 208 – but has never made a competitive first-team appearance and is lined up to go to Championship club Preston on loan.
Angel Di Maria’s proposed transfer to PSG is still clouding United’s preparations while Van Gaal’s insistence that he does not know where the Argentina international is has become as bizarre as it is embarrassing.
Di Maria’s fellow Argentinian Marcos Rojo also failed to join United’s tour squad because of visa problems. Rojo is likely to be fined by the club for failing to sort out the paperwork in good time but questions have to be asked why United officials, aware he had an arrest on his record, were not on the case earlier.
At the back, it was widely anticipated Van Gaal would start the season with the centre-back pairing of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, who did so well together in the big games towards the end of last season and were both handed long-term contracts.
But Van Gaal now says he will decide between Smalling and Jones for the right-sided centre-back berth alongside Daley Blind, who spent most of last season either in midfield or at left-back.
In midfield, Bastian Schweinsteiger already looks a non-starter for the Tottenham game and the former Bayern Munich star is clearly going to take time to get up to full fitness.
Schweinsteiger missed the Barcelona game with a knee injury and played only a half in each of the other three games. The World Cup winner looked to be treading water in Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s slipstream as the Swede cruised unchallenged through United’s defence for PSG’s second goal.
Up front, goals are still in short supply. United managed only six in four tour games and only one of them came from main striker Wayne Rooney, who has vowed to score 25 to 30 goals this season.
No one else got more than one either with the other scorers being Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Adnan Januzaj. United’s performances underlined Van Gaal’s declaration that he needs more pace, creativity and goals.
Despite his problems, the Dutchman remained upbeat after the PSG defeat, pointing out that United won all six pre-season games last year before crashing at home to Swansea in the opening League fixture.
“I’m really satisfied about the performance,” he said, “but I hope that we shall be able to finish our chances in the Premier League because that is so important.”
United have no more official warm-up games because Van Gaal rejected the chance to play one at Old Trafford next week.
But it is understood he will organise a full-scale practice game at the club’s Carrington training HQ next week, by splitting his squad into two teams in the hope of finding a winning blend for the opening day.
He is well aware United can’t afford another slow start and let Chelsea get away in the title race.
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