Why going Dutch again is a gamble for Manchester United

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.

Erik ten Hag has made an encouraging start as United manager but the success of his planned rebuild will depend as much on who he brings in as his innovation on the training ground and, in that regard, – as he treads what, for now, appears a similar path to Van Gaal.

Effectively forced out at Real Madrid, only three months after being named man-of-the-match in their Champions League final triumph over Atletico Madrid in May 2014, Di Maria never really gave the impression of wanting to move to United and, within less than a year, he was gone. 

United may well end up signing Frenkie de Jong and, unlike the personality clash