Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal has asked his star-striker Radamel Falcao to not bank on his hefty a price-taga and instead prove himself on the field. Falcaoa s future is under immense speculation as Van Gaal is not convinced of the Colombiana s performance so far this season but the manager believes that the striker still has time to secure his future at Old Trafford.
Falcao has suffered a painful start to his life at Manchester United and was dropped from the squad against Southampton after failing to impress the manager with his limited performances this season. The situation has worsened for the striker who has till the end of the season to secure a permanent deal at Manchester United. Falcaoa s agent also added to the speculation by hitting out at Van Gaal for not playing the striker regularly, claiming that the Colombian would still play for a top club even if the move to Manchester United was not made permanent.
Speaking before the game against Queens Park Rangers, Van Gaal addressed the situation by claiming that Radamel Falcao would have to prove himself worthy of a place in the starting eleven and that his price-tag doesna t guarantee him of a place in the team.
“If a player costs A?95m or A?5,000, it doesn’t make any difference. You have to prove yourself.”
“He has to prove himself, that we have agreed. We have made this deal and everything is clear and it is not the end of the year [the duration of his loan spell] so he has the chance for that.a
Van Gaal has clearly not been impressed with Falcaoa s performance so far this season and believes that the striker is not motivated enough at Old Trafford.
“For the manager it is the quality of the training sessions, the quality in his performances and matches and he has to compare [favourably].a
“A player of A?95m has to prove himself also. Maybe he has less motivation so I have to be like that.”
The manager also revealed that he has spoken to Falcao regarding his situation and has communicated what is expected of him at Manchester United.
“I have spoken to him but I always speak with the players, I am a good communicator, so that is not a big exception. But of course he was not in the squad, so then you talk more with this kind of player because for them it is a big disappointment.a
“I wanted to explain what he has to do in the future and that I have done.”
Speaking about the transfer window, Van Gaal revealed that the club will not be very active despite being linked with a lot of players this month.
“I don’t think that we shall be very active as not many players of a certain level are available.a
“When we buy a player he has to be better than the players that are playing now and that is a difficult job.”
Sepaking about QPR, who Manchester United face after their loss to Southampton, Van Gaal said that his opponents will make things difficult for United with their playing style.
a I think their players will do everything to beat Manchester United. Every player and every team wants to beat Manchester United. QPR have a playing style that is difficult for us, we have seen that already. They play a lot of long balls, they have strong strikers and we have to beat them in spite of that.a
Speaking about Manchester Uniteda s objectives this season, Van Gaal believes that a Champions League finish is particularly important for the club but claims that his players need to win key away games in order to do that.
a That is our goal and that I have always said, even in the beginning. We want to be champion, but then you have to win matches against Southampton and Aston Villa away. When you are not doing that you cannot be champion.a
a Our goal from the beginning was that we start a process to be within the first four because we want to play in the Champions League, and that is still our goal.a
However Van Gaal admitted that it would not be easy to finish in the top 4 as teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Totthenham Hotspur are going to put forward a strong challenge for a place in the Champions League.
a At this moment we have played 21 matches and we are in the area of the four. We have to fight for it because a lot of other teams are willing the same goal.”
a There are more clubs who are fighting, they have the quality of the players so it shall be a battle. Of course I think we can do it, but that’s football, we lost against Southampton and we were the better team. That’s football.a