Manchester United: LVG keen to promote club youth to first-team rather than sign players from elsewhere

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has spent over £250m since his arrival last summer, bringing in a wealth of talent from all across Europe to help take the Red Devils back to the top step of the Premier League. The Dutch manager has also integrated a number of youth team players into the senior squad and has indicated that he prefers filling his team with homegrown talent rather than signing players from elsewhere.

Paddy McNair, Tyler Blackett, Andreas Pereira, Jesse Lingard and Cameron Borthwick-Jackson have all been handed debuts by the Dutchman and it is likely to continue, as Van Gaal believes it is better to promote youth from within the club, since they are already integrated into the culture from a very young age. The former Bayern Munich and Barcelona manager has a big reputation when it comes to giving youth players an opportunity, and has been credited for kick-starting the careers of Xavi, Andreas Iniesta, Thomas Muller and Philip Lahm among others.

"As a manager I am well aware that it is much better to produce players from your own youth education, from your own culture, than to buy players from another culture or country or something like that," Van Gaal said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.

"And I have provided a lot of examples in my managerial career of that. It is not a surprise for my board because they know," the Dutchman added.

Jesse Lingard, who scored his first senior goal for United during their recent win over West Bromwich Albion, seems to have really made an impression on the manager, who has praised him and labelled him as one of the solutions for their recent goal scoring woes. Van Gaal, however, has warned against fast tracking him too soon, with regards to talks over his inclusion in the England squad for their upcoming friendlies against Spain and France.

"I would say it is much too early and we have to wait and see to see if he is consistent in his shape because he is more or less the same age as Memphis Depay. So we have to wait and see but I am very happy with his contribution up until now," the Red Devils boss explained.