Former Chelsea manager Ruud Gullit believes that his compatriot, Louis Van Gaal, should have immediately signed Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummelsin the summer.
Van Gaal was brought in as the replacement for David Moyes and if he made substantial changes to the team by bringing the likes of Angel di Maria and Daley Blind in the summer. United, though, did not make much changes to the defence despite the fact that they were aware of several players like Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra departing for a long time. Only Rojo was the significant buy in this position andGullit reckons that United made a mistake in this regard.
He has called upon for the club to have signedHummels, who has been linked with United for some time. Even thoughHummels has been going through a rough patch with Dortmund, he would have given a lot of experience to the defence. For much of the first half of the campaign, Van Gaal had to rely upon youngsters like McNair.
Dortmund are closer to the relegation zone this season and it is a major surprise. Hummels has been criticised for his poor form this campaign, but it has also been partly down to the injuries.
“The only thing for me that is a surprise is Van Gaal didn’t buy any good central defenders – that had to be his priority.He was crazy about Hummels and wanted to buy him. So I would have bought Man Utd some good defenders because that was the weakest link. For me, that they did not was a surprise. Nevertheless, he gets results. The more results he gets, the more confidence they get and the better they will play,” said Gullit. United lost their fifth game of the season in the 2-1 defeat against Swansea.