Giggs ‘being shunned at Manchester United’

The restaurant offers premium valet and chauffeur services – Van Gaal and the two women arrived in a stunning Bentley – complete with a personalised W1 NGS number plate.

“Wayne [Rooney] is fit to play, he’s only had one week out”.

United will be desperately missing Shaw, who will be out for most if not all of the season after suffering a double fracture in his right leg during the midweek Champions League match. Do United lack the attacking pace to challenge for major honours?

“I don’t spar – I don’t think United would like that”.

The two episodes will likely have done little to endear him to the club’s fans, but Koeman said: “I hope the reaction to him is a positive one“.

It might seem odd to be a 19-year-old playing for Manchester United and also to be slightly annoyed about that fact, but if James Wilson was feeling a little put out with his club at the moment, it would be hard to blame him.

Asked if he might be tempted to stay at Old Trafford beyond 2017 to see players such as Martial and injured left-back Shaw reach their full potential, Van Gaal indicated that he still planned to go.

Manchester United appear to have changed their mind about loaning out James Wilson, and that’s a good thing, since he’s part of the solution to United’s striking problems.

The England defender has partnered Netherlands worldwide Daley Blind at centre-half in the absence of Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones. Blind is a good replacement, but he don’t expect him to be quite so dynamic bursting down the flank. “That is why I always think it is better to invest in young players, even if they end up being more for the benefit of the next manager rather than yourself”. Schneiderlin is a class act and he needs to be included in the United team.

It could be said that without the Ferguson factor and his ability to make players go that extra mile, most managers would have struggled with the players United had left for their disposal in the middle of the park.

But Van Gaal has been accused of not doing enough to promote the club’s current batch of Academy products, instead spending £36m, potentially rising to £58.8m, on French teenage striker Anthony Martial from Monaco and £25m on winger Memphis, 21, from PSV Eindhoven. Van Gaal predicted that this would be the “Year of Luke Shaw”, and that was in the process of coming true. Deploying him in a wide midfield role may be a more sensible plan as he settles into life in the Premier League.

WAYNE ROONEY – Is Rooney still up to the job of being United’s lead striker? Ed Woodard had boasted money is not an issue when Van Gaal was appointed and on the back of the record breaking deal with Adidas that statement would appear to have merits.