Manchester United is one of the teams that has been most affected by international break as some of their key players picked up injuries including David de Gea and Michael Carrick.
Even when you don’t take into consideration the latest injuries of certain players after having played with their respective countries, the season of United was already being plagued with injuries.
Unfortunately for Louis van Gaal, most of the injuries have landed and affected the defensive department of Manchester United. The Brazilian right-back Rafael made a sensational performance during Manchester United’s match against Chelsea as the defender managed to keep the attackers of Chelsea at bay for most of the match.
Rafael suffered a muscular injury during a training session with Manchester United which has made him unable to play in the latest matches for his club and the only real defensive player that Louis van Gaal signed in the summer transfer window, Marcos Rojo is out injured with a dislocated shoulder, this has forced Louis van Gaal on having to create a last minute, makeshift defence which consisted of Antonio Valencia, Michael Carrick, Luke Shaw and Paddy McNair during their loss against Manchester City.
Jonny Evans and Phil Jones are the other defensive players in the team of Louis van Gaal that are suffering from injuries.
Louis van Gaal will have to start searching for solid and reliable defenders in the January transfer window and its being rumored that Manchester United has already agreed to match the price tag of XherdanShaqiri and sign the Swiss winger from Bayern Munich.
Antonio Valencia is currently being used as a makeshift right-back for Manchester United but the Ecuadorian player is consistently found out of place as he tends to go upfront down the wings on a regular basis but if the rumors are true and XherdanShaqiri will be joining Manchester United in January then Valencia could be offloaded as he does not have a very influential or important role to play at Old Trafford.
Louis van Gaal has also been allowed to spend a substantial amount of money in order to upgrade the squad and solve some of their main issues with the right back position being one of the team’s main vulnerabilities; the Dutchman is expected to sign a reliable right-back option and in order for this to happen Antonio Valencia could be offloaded in order to create enough funds and not have a large number of fringe players in the team.
