Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera content with peripheral role

Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera is unconcerned by his infrequent role in the club's first team and manager Louis van Gaal's intent to sign a creative playmaker during the upcoming summer transfer window.

Herrera has made just seven Premier League starts for United this season since joining from Athletic Bilbao after having been previously been pursued by ex-manager David Moyes.

The Spaniard marked his first inclusion in Van Gaal's starting 11 in the top flight since December 2014 with a goal in defeat to Swansea City but the rarity of Herrera's appearances has led to questions over his long-term Old Trafford future.

Those concerns were heightened when Van Gaal stated he was planning to sign a creative midfielder during the summer, exactly the role Herrera was brought in to perform when he was signed for £29m ($45m) eight months ago.

Despite being a victim of Van Gaal's squad rotation policy, which has even seen captain Wayne Rooney deployed in a deep-lying midfield role, Herrera is unperturbed by the uncertain start to his United career.

"I like to help the team," he told the Manchester Evening News. "When the manager wants me to play I am going to be ready to play. When the manager wants me to help from the bench, I am going to be ready also.

"Because I am a Manchester United player, I am a professional. I feel lucky because I play for Manchester United and I am going to help the club and the team always.

"Of course, everyone wants to play but we have 25 players or more, maybe. It is not easy to play for Manchester United but I work for that. I like to play, I like to help the team but I like, even more, to win games."

Herrera becomes the latest addition to a long line of United playmakers, a list illuminated by the name of Paul Scholes, the one club man who made over 700 appearances for United after graduating from the club's much-famed academy.

"Paul Scholes is maybe the biggest midfielder in the United history," Herrera added. "Yes. I want to be Ander Herrera, I want to learn things from Paul Scholes, things from Michael Carrick, things from Wayne Rooney. I wish one day... I can be so important for the fans, but I have to work very, very hard for that.

"But, I think I am 25-years-old, I have to learn a lot from my teammates, from great players like Paul Scholes and I want to learn."