Man Utd transfers: 'galactico' policy after squad is rebuilt

After spending more than £250m on 13 new players since taking over at Old Trafford, Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is set to adopt a more settled transfer strategy during future transfer windows, although he will still have the budget to buy big.

Slash and burn will give way to a "less is more approach to player recruitment", reports the Daily Telegraph, "with world-class signings prioritised over squad-building."

Two big-spending summers have "left Van Gaal's squad stocked with quality and top-level cover in every area of the pitch", says the paper. "But there is also an acceptance that stability within the playing squad is required and that the way forward requires an evolution of the club's transfer strategy that will see quality alone, rather than combined with quantity, become the cornerstone of recruitment."

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The suggestion is that the club will concentrate on hiring "marquee" players, and "focus on high-end individual signings".

United were linked to Neymar, Gareth Bale, Thomas Muller and Cristiano Ronaldo over the summer, and it would seem that 'galactico' players of their calibre will now become the main targets for Van Gaal.

It was accepted that after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson and the failure of David Moyes that a radical overhaul of the squad was needed, and the Telegraph notes that the club have spent more than £300m on players since Ferguson bowed out. Meanwhile, as The Guardian points out, Van Gaal has allowed more than 20 players (some of whom he signed) to leave Old Trafford.

The net result is that only nine members of the first-team squad that won the title in 2013 under Ferguson remain at the club. "Has there ever been a greater disintegration of a title-winning squad than Manchester United's?" asks the Daily Mail.

But the Guardian notes that "major surgery" was required at Old Trafford "because of the weaknesses left when Sir Alex Ferguson retired and which his successor Moyes failed to remedy".