During his two seasons with Manchester United, Louis van Gaal managed to fall out with a few people, leading to some impressively short Old Trafford spells.
Angel di Maria lasted just one season after his club-record move from Real Madrid, while Radamel Falcao arrived with plenty of fanfare on loan from Monaco but started just twice after February during his sole campaign.
And, despite Van Gaal’s big reputation when it came to blooding youngsters, plenty of academy products had similarly short spells before being shown the door.
One of these players, centre-back Michael Keane, is back in the Premier League with Burnley and has spoken about the one game which spelled the end for him and many others – the 4-0 League Cup loss to MK Dons just a month into the Dutchman’s first year in charge.
Keane played just one Premier League game for United (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Speaking to The Guardian, Keane recalls how Van Gaal was “killing everyone” after that defeat, and indeed just one member of the starting XI that night – David de Gea – is still at the club.
Many of those involved were youngsters, such as defenders Marnick Vermijl and Reece James, but more senior figures Shinji Kagawa and Javier Hernandez also failed to last the course under the Dutch coach.
“After that, I was on international duty with the Under-21s. It was transfer-deadline day and I got a phone call saying Burnley wanted to take me,” Keane adds.
“It was a bit harsh [from Van Gaal], judging me on one game, but I suppose when you are coming through at Man United you know if you get that chance you need to take it.
“I did well in the other games I played, it was just that one game when everyone was bad.”
