15 Man Utd youngsters Van Gaal handed a debut to and what happened to them next
Louis van Gaal generally failed to win over Manchester United fans during his two-year stint at Old Trafford.
The Dutchman got his hands on the FA Cup in his second and final season, toppling Crystal Palace in the Wembley showpiece, but an underwhelming style of play and inconsistent run of results meant he was dismissed to make way for Jose Mourinho in 2016.
Nevertheless, one thing that cannot be disputed about his time at United was the fact he always gave youth a chance.
Van Gaal handed out senior debuts to a total of 15 Red Devils academy graduates, and we’ve taken a look at what happened to each of them.
Jesse Lingard
Lingard received his United bow on Van Gaal’s very first outing as manager, returning from loan spells with Leicester, Birmingham and Brighton to seemingly become an important member of his first-team squad.
But 24 minutes into that clash with Swansea the midfielder was replaced due to injury, before finding himself on loan at Derby in the second half of the campaign.
The following season marked his breakthrough campaign at Old Trafford, which ended with him scoring the winner in their FA Cup final triumph.
Lingard was used regularly by Mourinho, yet after falling out of favour under successor Ole Gunnar Solskjaer he decided to join West Ham on loan in January.
Paddy McNair
The Northern Irishman made the most of an injury crisis in defence when making his debut against West Ham in September 2014.
Yet he went on to endure a topsy-turvy relationship with Van Gaal, who once insisted he could be United’s right-back for the next decade before later criticising him for giving the ball away too frequently.
After making 27 appearances, McNair departed Old Trafford at the same time as Van Gaal to join Sunderland, but now plies his trade at Middlesbrough.
Timothy Fosu-Mensah
After being hailed as the next big thing when he burst onto the scene at United in 2015, Fosu-Mensah made a handful of Premier League appearances in Mourinho’s first season before being sent out on loan in the next two campaigns.
The defender gained crucial Premier League experience at Crystal Palace and Fulham, however an ACL injury during his time with the latter stalled his progress.
With opportunities few and far between under Solskjaer at Old Trafford, he sealed a permanent move to Bayer Leverkusen in January.
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Reece James
No, not *that* Reece James.
The Lancashire lad emerged from United’s academy to make his debut under Van Gaal in their humiliating 4-0 League Cup defeat by MK Dons in August 2014 – and it proved his only appearance for the club.
James was eventually offloaded to Wigan in 2015 and now finds himself in League One with Doncaster Rovers.
Andreas Pereira
Another youngster who made his debut against MK Dons, Pereira was afforded another 12 outings under Van Gaal before Mourinho arrived and sent him out on loan to Granada and Valencia.
The midfielder impressed in Spain and returned to become a key member of United’s first team, only to lose his place to £67million recruit Bruno Fernandes.
He secured a loan switch to Lazio last summer, making 21 appearances for the Italian outfit so far.
Tyler Blackett
The England U21 defender capitalised on the same injury crisis as McNair in 2014/15 and made 12 appearances that season, with Van Gaal tipping him to become a “great defender” when he signed a new contract a year later.
However, Blackett failed to impress in a subsequent loan spell at Celtic, meaning he was offloaded to Reading on a permanent basis in 2016.
He joined Nottingham Forest last summer, making a mere four appearances so far.
Donald Love
It’s fair to say Love didn’t make the greatest of starts to his United career in 2015, and his overall record stands at two appearances, as many defeats and one booking. What a name though.
Following a brief loan spell with Wigan, he joined former United boss David Moyes at Sunderland in 2016 and made 34 appearances over two-and-a-half years with the Black Cats.
The defender now plies his trade at Shrewsbury.
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Regan Poole
Van Gaal certainly loved a debutant defender at Old Trafford, with centre-back Poole making his first and only United appearance as a substitute in their 2015 Europa League win over Midtjylland.
The Wales U21 star then enjoyed loan spells with Northampton and Newport before signing for MK Dons upon his Red Devils release in 2019.
Poole signed a multi-year contract with Lincoln in January and has already made seven appearances for the League One club.
Cameron Borthwick-Jackson
After being handed his debut by Van Gaal in November 2015, Borthwick-Jackson made another 13 appearances for United that season.
But an encouraging start to his Red Devils career was followed by loan moves to Wolves, Leeds, Scunthorpe, Tranmere and lastly Oldham, whom he joined permanently upon his release last year.
James Weir
The English midfielder’s United career starts and finishes with a 95th-minute substitute appearance against Arsenal in January 2016.
He was offloaded to Hull that summer, where a series of injury problems derailed his career.
Weir signed for Bolton in 2019, only for his contract to be terminated in January 2020. He now finds himself in Slovakia with Pohronie.
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Guillermo Varela
Varela was actually the first signing Van Gaal’s predecessor Moyes made at United in 2013, but his debut didn’t come until the 2015/16 campaign.
The Uruguayan right-back made 11 appearances under Van Gaal, but Mourinho deemed him surplus to requirements and sent him out on loan to Eintracht Frankfurt, where he made 10 appearances before returning and securing a permanent switch back to Uruguay with Penarol.
He currently plays on loan in Russia with Dynamo Moscow, although he has only been afforded one appearance this season.
Saidy Janko
The Switzerland U21 ace’s only United outing came in that MK Dons hammering, when he was replaced by a furious Van Gaal at the half-time break.
He left Old Trafford to join Celtic in 2015 before enjoying brief stints with Barnsley, St Etienne, Porto, Nottingham Forest and Young Boys, but Janko is currently on the books at Real Valladolid.
Tom Thorpe
Another one-game graduate, Thorpe was handed his debut by Van Gaal as a 94th-minute substitute in a 2014 win over West Ham.
The defender was sent out on loan to Birmingham in the second half of the season, before being released by United when he returned in the summer of 2015.
After spells with Rotherham, Bradford, Bolton and Indian Super League outfit ATK, he has been without a club since leaving the latter in 2018.
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Joe Riley
Riley, who can operate as both a full-back and a midfielder, received his Red Devils bow as a substitute against Shrewsbury in February 2016 before earning a start in the win over Midtjylland a few days later.
They proved his only two United appearances, as after a loan at Sheffield United which ended early due to injury he was offloaded to Bradford on a permanent basis in 2018.
He signed for League Two’s Carlisle last summer and has made 23 appearances so far.
Marcus Rashford
We had to save the best until last here, and Van Gaal’s biggest claim to fame from his time at United is the fact he gave Rashford the platform to break into the side and begin his journey to superstardom.
When Anthony Martial was injured in the warm-up before their clash with Midtjylland in 2016, the forward was chosen to start and repaid his manager by scoring two goals in a 5-1 win.
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Three days later he bagged another brace, this time against arch-rivals Arsenal, and went on to score the winner in the Manchester derby later that season.
He instantly became an important member of United’s first team, and six years on Rashford has 255 appearances and 85 goals (and counting) under his belt – making him one of the most talented youngsters in world football.
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