Robson: Van Gaal can be ruthless

BRYAN Robson saw a bit of Sir Alex Ferguson in Louis van Gaal when he decided to ruthlessly ditch Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Victor Valdes.

One of the reasons why Ferguson was so successful at United was because of his ability to cold-heartedly dump the players he deemed surplus to requirements.

The likes of Roy Keane, David Beckham, Jaap Stam, and Ruud van Nistelrooy were all discarded when the Scot decided they were not good enough or lacked the discipline and commitment he demanded.

Van Gaal has headed down a similar route, selling Van Persie to Fenerbahce just 12 months after he was Holland captain under the former Barcelona coach.

The United boss released former loanee Falcao after a poor season and last week announced that Valdes, the goalkeeper he gave his Barcelona debut to 13 years ago, would be sold after apparently refusing to play for the reserves last term.

“It’s very similar to Sir Alex Ferguson,” Robson said.
“Louis van Gaal has been very successful in his career. He has been a bit ruthless with a few of his decisions lately and that is what good managers do.

“At certain stages, managers have to make major decisions and sometimes people have to move on and the manager has got to change things the way he sees it. And that is what he is doing, that’s part of his job – you have to be ruthless at stages.

“With Valdes, it didn’t suit the manager, so he has moved him on.”

Valdes has been left out of United’s squad for their pre-season tour of the United States and Turkish club Antalyaspor are interested in the goalkeeper’s services.

Van Gaal has also acted decisively with incomings.
Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian have all joined the club, but the biggest coup for Robson is the capture of Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich.