Ander Herrera speaks out on Van Gaal's philosophy and his own love of football

Manchester United's most loveable player since Rafael sadly went missing at sea is undoubtedly Ander Herrera, and while it's a bit of a pain that Louis van Gaal seems determined to sideline him, we can at least satiate our hunger by reading a lengthy interview with the man. He sat down with Henry Winter of the Telegraph - you can read it in full here - but here are a few choice quotes:

On Van Gaal:

"His philosophy is keep the ball, have more possession than the opponent and the space is coming. When you play side to side three or four times, the space is coming. We have to improve, of course, because we want to be as high up the league as possible."

On his best position:

"I played No 10 in Athletic last season but I can play also right side, left side. With Marcelo Bielsa, we played with almost two (central midfielders) and I played more free than Ander Iturraspe. But I can play No 10, No 8. With Ernesto Valverde last season, I played two or three games right side. I want to help always."

On Wayne Rooney:

"Wayne Rooney is unbelievable. He's one of the biggest players in the world and always wants to play. Against Cambridge away. Against Yeovil Town away. Even when he had a big problem with his toe, he never missed one training session. He never missed one run. He's always helping others."

And on being a football romantic:

"I'm a little bit of a footballing romantic. You have to support your local team - always. My idols were Gus Poyet and Nayim. You can admire players from the biggest teams but my idols were from Real Zaragoza. They were my team, are my team, and will be my team always. You can change your wife, you can change your girlfriend but you cannot change your football team."

Well, there you have it. There's more in there besides, including a slightly odd comment about being determined to cross their way to victory against Swansea (ring any bells?) but it's mostly just good clean fun. There's some stuff about not playing regularly, but he's pretty humble, and Winter doesn't really push him on much. I'd have liked to have seen him answer "Does it annoy you to be stuck on the bench while Rooney gets shunted into midfield?" or "This season really has been a load of old bollocks, hasn't it?" but still. What a lovely lad. I don't think any one of us would be worried about taking him home to our mother.