Van Gaal Seeks United's New 'Guardians'

Louis van Gaal has reiterated the importance of young players to his plans for Manchester United, declaring they can be its "guardians" going forward.

The Dutchman defines a guardian as someone who is ingrained in the club's identity and ideology, having been coached there from an early age or, as in the case of Wayne Rooney, signed from another team while still young. Rooney, now 28, has just passed the 10-year anniversary of his arrival from Everton, longevity which made him a logical choice to be the new captain in van Gaal's eyes.

"It's very important for a club such as Manchester United to have guardians of its culture," said van Gaal when speaking to the Sunday newspapers.

"Every youth player who comes through can be a guardian. The 'Class of 92' [Beckham, Butt, Giggs, Neville and Scholes] were guardians of the club's culture. You need very good youth education so you have always more players who can become guardians.

"Wayne Rooney is also a guardian of this culture now as captain and he can transfer this culture to his fellow players."

Van Gaal cited the cores of long-serving players he helped to create at his former clubs, and his intention to repeat this with the Reds.

"I did it with Barcelona where I gave debuts to Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Carles] Puyol and [Victor] Valdes. At Bayern Munich, we had [Holger] Badstuber, [Thomas] Muller and [David] Alaba who can guard the culture. I also want to do that here but the youth players have to take their chance when they receive it."