Louis van Gaal claims Manchester United squad with 13 title winners 'are not used to being champions'
The Dutchman, who could see Leicester City lift the title against his side on Sunday, either had a memory lapse or has not been paying attention
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United are 17 points behind league leaders Leicester City because they ‘are not used to being champions’, according to Louis van Gaal.
The Foxes can wrap up their first top-flight league championship with victory at Old Trafford on Sunday and Van Gaal could not adequately explain why his side have failed to keep pace.
The Dutchman, who has endured a difficult nine months, attempted to put United’s deficit down to a lack of title-winning experience.
“The players who are now playing, they are not used to being champions,” said Van Gaal.
“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.”
De Gea, however, has one Premier League title to his name, playing 28 times during United’s triumphant 2012/13 campaign.
“Memphis Depay was a champion last year [with PSV Eindhoven] so not many players,” Van Gaal continued. “Rooney, Carrick, they have been the champions once, or maybe more than once.”
Rooney and Carrick, the club’s longest serving players, have each won more than one Premier League title – five, to be precise, over the last nine years at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal’s squad actually contains a total of 13 players who have won a domestic league title, seven of whom have done so at United.
Two others, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sergio Romero, won titles under the management of Van Gaal, while playing for Bayern Munich in 2009/10 and AZ Alkmaar in 2008/09 respectively.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments