Manchester United Transfer News: Louis Van Gaal Criticism Comes Far Too Soon

Pundits are questioning whether Manchester United can find a way to get all of their new signings to fit into one starting XI, but criticism of Louis van Gaal should wait until people actually see the result of the team's summer transfer business on the pitch.

Johan Cruyff has never been one of Van Gaal's biggest supporters, and he compared the Red Devils' new squad to Barcelona's per The Guardian's Donald McRae:

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There should be a logic always but the big problem is to manage all these players. It’s the same thing with Barcelona. They now have [Luis] Suarez, [Lionel] Messi, Neymar—how do you play them together? If you see them individually then, of course, they are great players. It’s the same at Manchester United. Individually they are great but they have to play like a team.

So then you get another problem. They are all famous. They earn a lot of money both on and off the field. How can you create a team and bring all these egos together?

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In his column for Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher echoed the same sentiment, and he elaborated on the club's defensive signings (or lack thereof):

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They’ve got their new player Marcos Rojo coming in and Tyler Blackett has been playing as well, but both don’t have much Premier League experience. While Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have got that experience in terms of playing for United, the question is whether they can fill the void of Vidic and Ferdinand? That remains to be seen and over the season we’ll find out. It’s slightly surprising, with the way that they’ve spent, that they haven’t brought in a traditional central defender before the deadline and I think United fans would say that themselves.

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As of right now, the criticism is completely unwarranted. Marcos Rojo, Radamel Falcao and Daley Blind have yet to play a single minute of football for United. It's far, far too early to start making statements on their lack of Premier League experience or egos.

Van Gaal has already had a long and decorated career, managing teams like Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. He has won plenty of silverware, both with talented teams filled with superstars and inexperienced squads no one expected to do much.

The Dutchman deserves the benefit of the doubt. Sure, it'll take time for a player like Rojo to adapt to the English game, or for the team to find their perfect formation to accommodate all of their star players. But to start speculating about potential issues before he has the chance to get to work is very premature.

Bruno Gonzalez/Associated Press

Real Madrid were a star-studded team in 2013-14 as well, to the point where Raphael Varane, one of the world's best young centre-backs, could hardly make it into the team.

Yet Carlo Ancelotti found a way to make it work. He took his time settling on a preferred formation, got all of his stars to look in the same direction and led Los Blancos to a UEFA Champions League title.

No one appears to be questioning Jose Mourinho's decision to bring in Filipe Luis, who is yet to establish himself as a starter at left-back for Chelsea. Top talents like Oscar and Andre Schurrle have an ego, but no one appears to be worried over the fact they're not currently regulars in the starting XI.

Scott Heppell/Associated Press

Why should the situation be any different for Van Gaal, who has over two decades worth of managing experience? As Carragher himself pointed out, Tyler Blackett has been playing well, and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling both have plenty of Premier League experience.

By the time the January transfer window rolls around, we'll know whether or not the Red Devils made a mistake not signing another centre-back, but as of right now, there's nothing to suggest we should question the club's current personnel.

The same goes for the individual talents Cruyff talks about. It's far too early to start making assumptions regarding their ability to play together, and throughout his career, Van Gaal has done nothing to suggest he wouldn't be up to the task of turning this group of players into a team.

There's simply no reason to start criticising Van Gaal and United this early into their new project. They took care of their transfer business, and now it's time to start putting all of the new pieces into place. Judgement should be reserved for when we can actually determine what the result of all those signings is.

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