Louis van Gaal could do with a conversation with some of the players that were at Manchester United before he arrived.
The Dutchman appears to believe that those still at Old Trafford were much less successful than they truly were before van Gaal signed on the dotted line.
Speaking ahead of United’s clash with table-topping Leicester on Sunday, which could see the Foxes crowned Premier League champions, van Gaal has played down the title credentials of his players.
The 64-year-old has claimed that goalkeeper David De Gea never won the Premier League, despite the Spaniard playing 28 games in the league when United secured the 2012-13 title.
Van Gaal has also underplayed the honours list of experienced players like Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, who each have five domestic titles to their name.
“The players who are now playing, they are not used to being champions,” said Van Gaal in quotes appearing in the Mirror.
“I don’t think Matteo Darmian is used to being a champion and David De Gea was never champion, so I don’t agree with the way you make the question.
“Memphis Depay was a champion last year [with PSV Eindhoven] so not many players… Rooney, Carrick, they have been the champions once, or maybe more than once.
“But you have to see always the situation of where the club is, and we have seen that we are in a transitional period, and when I was mentioned as the coach, it was also about that we discussed.
“When I took over we had more than five or six players above 32 or 33, and then you have to select and buy other players, and there were not too many young players any more in the selection.
“So it is a process of transition, and now we are fighting for the qualification for the Champions League and we are still in the FA Cup, so we have to fight for something and we shall do it and hopefully we can beat Leicester.”
