Ahead of Sunday’s game against Bournemouth, Louis van Gaal has talked about the potential difficulty for Manchester United to sign players if we’re not playing in the Champions League.

He was asked whether United will struggle to sign top players when competing with the likes of Barcelona or Real Madrid, but Van Gaal doesn’t think so.

I have read that, but it’s not always the truth. It’s also about the feeling of the player. In your eyes, it’s difficult to attract players of a certain level, but I can assure you it’s not always like that. Sometimes it is, but I cannot say how things are, because then I will interfere with the transfer policy of our club. It’s always about three parties. It’s us, the club of the player we want, and the player. It is not always the player. The player, in general, wants to come. Of course, there are some players who would prefer Real Madrid, but there are also players who want to leave Real Madrid, or Barcelona, or Paris St Germain.