I think Wayne won't give any trouble under van Gaal.

Not sure if spending ridiculous amount of money on young players that might come good is the best way of getting back into top 4 though, especially if the likes of Fabregas, who's dying to prove himself again in the Prem or Rakitic, who's relatively low profile, go for less.

He won't spend that much money in youths usually he just picks them at the club. Furthermore, United is in need of a couple of new players. We'll see what will happen. Im starting to think that he might try to get Nigel de Jong, he is playing one hell of a WC. And wanting Robben isn't that strange either allthough he will be insanely expensive. We'll see.

Rakitic (apparently) wanted to stay in Spain, rather hard to offer him that.
Also, Fabregas is a number 10 these days and will play the role that Mata should (and hopefully will) play for us next season, would've been pure stupidity buying Fabregas.
Ander makes a hell lot of sense, he's (despite his rather small stature) an enforcer in midfield, he's very good at winning the ball back and stressing the opponent, while he still has a very good eye for the through balls.

Personally I think £30m is too much, he doesn't even have a single international cap.

A stacked midfield where the national coach tends to use the same players time and time again centrally, it's hard to expect Ander to have a cap.
He had a magnificent season, was the by far best player for a very, very good Athletic side this season.

Besides that, he has a desire to play for United it seems (after the deal didn't go through last summer he seemed genuinely upset about it), besides that, he's a typical Louis van Gaal signing, not a big name (yet), but a player who're willing to work for the coach and the system, with the best interest of the team.
Ander has a track record of playing a role in a high pressing system, which favors to keep the ball and win it back quickly, which is exactly what we can expect to see from van Gaal.

The price might be a bit too much, but given our situation, as well as the history of how Athletic deals with their transfers (Javi Martinez to Bayern and letting Llorente leave free), that's the price you have to pay.

This post was edited by PittaGod on Jun 24 2014 08:11am

Rather have Vidal or break the bank with returning Pogba, but Ander isn't the worst signing tbh.

What's nuts is Shaw's price is now supposedly closer to 40m pounds. The fuck? Evra cost 5.5m only 8 years ago

I don't think you should see Ander as the alternative to Vidal, but rather an option to play alongside someone like Vidal.

I don't think the Shaw price has changed much, it's always been £30m + add ons, seems like the prices being mentioned now just includes all the add ons and is the maximum price he'll potentially cost us over the coming years.

He's English so you have to pay 20mill more than he is actually worth

Herrera's gonna be good fit. I'm fine with the price tag seeing Fellaini went for similar amount...