Manchester United are looking for a full back, confirms Van Gaal

Ashley Young's latest injury has left Manchester United looking desperately short at fullback, with only Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind amounting to senior options, and youngsters Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and Guillermo Varela backing them up. Speaking to MUTV, Louis van Gaal explained that while he is happy with the youngsters performances, he still feels the squad is lacking.

I think when you see how unlucky we have been in the full-back position. I have started with Valencia, Shaw, Rojo, Darmian and Young, sometimes, and they are all injured - only Darmian is now back. So, I need full-backs and you have seen how I have used youngsters like Borthwick-Jackson and Varela who are doing great but the level of Manchester United is high.

Interesting that he left Blind off that list; presumably he feels that the Dutchman is now established as a central defender. He then confirmed that United were actively looking to strengthen the position.

To give a high performance every week normally is very difficult for youngsters, which is why we have to look always in this transfer period for replacements. The difficulty is that we ask for a level and the clubs do not want to sell in this period and that is our problem. We are looking, but it is not so easy. Nobody can understand that because it is easy and it is not so.

Hang on, we've had a thought. Didn't Gareth Bale used to be a fullback?