Matt Law: Manchester United Transfer Policy Has Been A Disaster

Manchester United's lack of planning in the transfer market has led to disastrous panic decisions, according to the Daily Telegraph's Matt Law.

United sit just outside the Premier League top four after nine wins from 20 games, and manager Louis van Gaal has been linked with several big-money January transfers, including bids for Southampton's Sadio Mane and Lazio's Felipe Anderson.

Mane was dropped from Southampton's starting line-up for their 1-0 defeat to Norwich on Saturday after arriving late for a team meeting, and speaking on the Sunday Supplement, Law cast doubt on the forward's suitability for United.

"We get to January and they suddenly need a striker," said Law. "But how many goals has Mane scored this season? Three [in the league]. You wouldn't look at him and say traditionally he's a United player based on that record. The policy has just become a bit of a disaster. It's panic, panic, panic.

"Every transfer window we come to, there doesn't seem to be any proper plan. It's 'oh, we'll try and sign Neymar, we'll try and sign Gareth Bale' and actually they end up with [Morgan] Schneiderlin and [Bastian] Schweinsteiger.

"It's just a disaster, and you can see it coming with this transfer window again. Who knows what Anderson will be like when he comes over to England? It's just all over the place."

United have struggled in front of goal this season with just 24 in the league so far, six goals fewer than any other top six club.

Van Gaal sold Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez last summer, telling the Mexican international he had "a one per cent chance" of playing up front for United in the coming season, according to Hernandez.

But the striker has been exceptional for Bayer Leverkusen, winning his second straight Bundesliga player of the month award in December after seven goals in five matches, and the Mail on Sunday's Rob Draper believes manager and club are not on the same page when it comes to transfers.

"There's something much deeper wrong at United. It's structurally wrong that the coach and buying policy don't appear to be integrated together," said Draper. "The coach and the club don't seem to quite know how to get out of the post-Ferguson era.

"To me it looks like a club searching for an identity and trying to navigate its way out of this iconic manager they had.

"On the one hand, they do [need to sign players] because they're not achieving. But on the other, they've spent an awful lot of money since van Gaal has been there. It's not like he's been starved of money.

"You might go back and say, 'why did he let van Persie go, why did he let Chicharito go?' Van Persie was in the autumn of his career, clearly Chicharito is embarrassing him now.

"I'm sure they will try and get Mane and add to that forward line, they will probably add a midfielder. But he's had the pick of his buys so it can't just be the solution."

Credit: Skysports.com