LvG: I turned Schweinsteiger in to a central midfielder

A lot of Manchester United fans will be hoping that Tim Fosu-Mensah returns to the starting line-up for the crucial FA Cup semi-final game against Everton on Saturday.

The youngster has impressed since being brought in to the first team and has largely been used at full-back. Having played in defence and midfield for the U-18s and U-21s, Louis van Gaal is unsure of what his Fosu-Mensah’s best position is yet.

It is dependable on vacancies in your squad. You have seen that players in my squad are playing in different positions than what they are used to in their former careers. It is also a little bit of luck. When there is a vacancy and you think a young player has the quality to play there, you give him the chance. If he takes the chance then that makes him already mentally a good player.

You cannot say that a player is [just] a full-back. You can see qualities and you make a profile of positions and then you look at the qualities of a player and see if he can fit that. Can he do that, can he perform that? Maybe he shall perform it and then he sticks to that position and then he is the best of all.

You can ask Bastian Schweinsteiger who, at Bayern Munich, played on the right side, the right wing. I made him a centre midfielder because I looked at his profile and I thought that he can better play in the middle and he enjoys it more than on the right side. I have changed a lot of positions of players.