Louis van Gaal calls off Manchester United's Cesc Fàbregas hunt - report

After apparently calling a halt to Manchester United's pursuit of Toni Kroos, new boss Louis van Gaal may well have done the same to that of Cesc Fàbregas. That's according to the Daily Mail, who report "United will not enter an auction for a player who is not on new manager Louis van Gaal’s wish-list." Unless said player is called Luke Shaw, of course.

Now, TBB doesn't have too much of a problem with calling off the Fàbregas deal per se, as we've already had a couple of wild-goose chases around Barcelona for a player who isn't actually top-tier world-class good. He's been rotated around Barça's midfield and attack since he arrived from Arsenal back in 2011, without ever really finding a home. At 27, there's the risk he'll never find his very best again.

However, it's slightly concerning that van Gaal may be putting all of his eggs in the Strootman basket -- should the wishlist the Mirror reported last month be true. Without a doubt, Strootman is one of the best midfielders in the world when fit, and he'd be ideal for the box-to-box role in van Gaal's 4-3-3. But if we come over all Thiago Alcântara again, we could be left with a midfield duo of Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini. And no one wants that.