Wednesday’s biggest stories from Old Trafford.
SEE ALSO: Manchester United XI with Radamel Falcao.
AS Roma midfielder Kevin Strootman a £25m January target for Manchester United
New manager Louis van Gaal has clearly taken to spending huge amounts on transfer fees as the Dutchman targets fellow countryman Strootman, according to the Daily Mail.
The 63-year-old sanctioned £151.5m of purchases this summer, including a British record £59.7m being paid to Real Madrid for Angel di Maria.
However, van Gaal is a big fan of Strootman’s and sees the 24-year-old as the ideal box-to-box acquisition that United needs.
The Red Devils were not di Maria’s first choice says Paris Saint-Germain president
PSG chief Nasser Al-Khelaifi has claimed that United’s club record signing didn’t even want to move to Old Trafford initially and preferred Paris.
The Ligue 1 champions were in no position to sign di Maria because of UEFA’s FFP rule, but Al-Khelaifi says if they were the Argentina international would be in the French capital now.
“Di Maria wanted to come to Paris but even without FFP [Financial Fair Play], we wouldn’t have signed him,” the president told Le Parisian.
Tom Cleverley called Paul Lambert personally to ensure Aston Villa loan move went through
The midfielder finally completed a loan switch to Villa Park on Tuesday, but not before he grovelled to Lambert after his rude behaviour on Monday.
According to the Sun Cleverley was due to meet Villa’s staff in Stoke to undergo a medical ahead of a £7m transfer, but after learning of Everton’s interest made a u-turn and never turned up.
In the end the Toffees deal fell through because they would not meet the same valuation of the England international and the 25-year-old then had to ring Lambert personally and convince him the Villains were his preferred choice.
Wayne Rooney is awful, selfish and should be dropped says former United star
Paul Parker has delivered a damning report on Rooney’s performances this season and thinks that following the loan signing of Radamel Falcao the captain should be dropped.
Parker doesn’t think the 28-year-old has been acting like a skipper at all and that his displays on the pitch suggests the forward is only looking out for himself.
“He’s been awful. There he was at Burnley this weekend, supposedly captaining the team – but I saw a player interested only in himself, doing nothing to try and lift his game or inspire his team-mates,” the 50-year-old wrote in his Eurosport column.
Rooney is determined to win over dissatisfied England fans though
As the newly appointed captain of the national side the United ace has made it his mission to put a smile back on the face of the supporters.
The Three Lions were woeful at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and Rooney is looking to put that behind them and start winning silverware.
“I’ve always wanted to win a trophy with England, and if I can lead us to do that, that’ll be the pinnacle of my career,” the attacker was quoted by the Times.
Image gallery: Falcao WAG