‘Maybe’ Is A Big Word.

For a large percentage of Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United tenure, he has been bombarded with questions regarding his transfer plans. It’s something which is only being fuelled by the noises coming from the board of a limitless budget.

So far, as United tour the USA, van Gaal has humoured journalists with responses filled with a level of patience. LvG has arrived under a cloud of him being a dictator, so you sense he’s keen to dispel this by giving his current crop a chance.

But do they deserve it?

Well, perhaps not, but nobody can argue that they have risen to the challenges proposed by the new boss and are thriving under the new system being implemented and, to the naked eye, it appears to have altered van Gaal’s transfer window plans too.

On Friday, when asked for the umpteenth time about who he plans to sign, LvG responded by saying, “maybe we don’t need other players”.

You can, to an extent, see his point. United haven’t cut the shape of a team in dire need of total restoration, nor a major overhaul, but it’s so important that these early showings aren’t allowed to paper over any cracks.

However, I wouldn’t share in some of United’s faithfuls mass panic. ‘Maybe’, he said. ‘Maybe’.

It’s not going to be the most enthusing thing for the squad to hear on a daily basis, when journalists are desperately trying to ascertain who’s coming into the club, in order to draw up conclusions as to who is going to leave. Particularly after wins against LA Galaxy, Roma, Inter and now Real Madrid.

So LvG has perhaps tried to buy himself more time with his response, rather than simply ruling out any more new arrivals. I also strongly disagree that it brings scenes reminiscent of David Moyes’ summer last year. Yes he said similar things, but he said this because he physically couldn’t get anyone to the club, van Gaal can, he’s just being patient.

I would personally be stunned if we didn’t see any more signings. You sense, however impressive the young defence has been Stateside, that a leader is missing from the centre of that back three. We could also really do with another central midfielder. I cannot stress how impressive a signing Arturo Vidal would be.

The current crop aren’t as bad as they have been made out to be. Okay, they were horrendous last term, but they appear to be on their way back just now, but to really challenge for the title this year, maybe we need a couple more top class additions.

Maybe.

Greg