Of all the mistakes Manchester United have made in the transfer market since Sir Alex Ferguson retired nine years ago, few dealings have tended to elicit as much regret internally as the summers of 2014 and 2015 when the club placed their faith squarely in their straight-talking Dutch manager and paid a heavy price.
From Robert Lewandowski, Neymar and Thomas Muller to Sadio Mane, N’Golo Kante and Sergio Ramos, Louis van Gaal has been unafraid to reel off the list of players he wanted to bring to Old Trafford, but less willing to reflect on the litany of flops he ended up buying.
Amid the costly gambles on youth (Anthony Martial), experience (Bastian Schweinsteiger) and reputation (Radamel Falcao), United also invested in players who were simply not up to the job, including Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian and Marcos Rojo.
But it was Van Gaal’s recruitment of Daley Blind, Memphis Depay and Angel Di Maria that serves as the most interesting talking point now United are once again putting their trust in another Dutch manager with a powerful voice and a very clear idea of how he wants to do things.