• Premier League

United tell Van Gaal: Carry on spending

ESPN staff
July 20, 2014
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Louis van Gaal has been given the go-ahead to carry on his summer spending with Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward saying the club will "do what it takes to win the title" this season.

United have already spent close to £60 million on Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera with Woodward telling fans to expect more new signings and several departures over the next few weeks.

Louis van Gaal was officially unveiled as Manchester United manager on Thursday © PA Photos
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"There is no fixed budget. Financially we are extremely strong, we have funds available,'' Woodward told MUTV in an interview filmed on the club's pre-season tour of the United States.

"Louis is the boss and is assessing what's going on but we have been in dialogue for some time about targets so there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. We're continuing to move forward on some of those targets, so watch this space.

"The time he [Van Gaal] spends here as well [in America], he'll be able to assess more what he's got and continue to tweak the decisions if we need to. We want to do what it takes to win the title.''

United have been linked with a move for Juventus midfielder Arturo Vidal while Van Gaal is also reportedly interested in Dutch duo Daley Blind and Kevin Strootman along with Arsenal centre-back Thomas Vermaelen.

After finishing seventh last season at the end of a disastrous campaign which saw David Moyes sacked just 10 months into a six-year contract, United will be without European football this term for the first time in almost two decades.

But Woodward doesn't think that will put potential signings off a move to Old Trafford.

"I've experienced a lot of conversations with agents and players and we are still a huge attraction to top football stars around the world - there is no doubt about that," Woodward added. "We've already invested in two new fantastic players.''

Several faces are expected to follow Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic through the Old Trafford exit door as Van Gaal, who was officially unveiled as United's new manager on Thursday, goes about reshaping his squad.

Despite only signing a new one-year contract two months ago, Patrice Evra has been linked with a switch to Juventus, while midfielder Anderson, who was loaned to Fiorentina last season, and Bebe are free to leave.

Question marks also remain over the futures of Javier Hernandez, Wilfried Zaha, Marouane Fellaini, and Tom Cleverley.

When asked whether players would leave, Woodward said: "Yes, I think so. The manager makes that decision and a few players have already gone and there may well be a few others that go.

"It's also worth commenting that we're not in Europe this year [so] there's less games, maybe the manager takes the view that he wants a tighter squad to bed in. If you do the analysis over last year, Liverpool performed extremely well with a smaller number of players but that's a decision for the manager.''

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