Playing against French Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain in the early hours of tomorrow morning, Manchester United will be looking to secure their fourth win out of four games in the International Champions Cup pre-season tournament in North America.
Having beaten Club America, San Jose Earthquakes and most notably Barcelona so far en route, Louis van Gaal’s side are shaping up well for the new season with Morgan Schneiderlin having been one of the outstanding players for the Red Devils so far.
With Memphis Depay also getting on the goalscoring trail to boot, Manchester United’s big spending ways have many Red Devils fans thinking that they’ll push Chelsea far closer in the Premier League title race this season.
On the face of it, United now boast a huge squad and with some trimming to be done before the start of the season, our landlord is currently talking to our Red Devils regulars about who will be cut from the squad prior to the close of the window on September 1st.
With 29 players currently away on tour with United in North America, van Gaal will be using the current games to gauge who is worth their weight in gold and who might be embarking on another loan switch or permanent move away.
With this in mind, we’ve devised a list of five players who are destined for an Old Trafford axe this summer.
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 Manchester United players destined for the axe this summer.
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Javier Hernandez
Currently part of the 29 who are away on duty in the International Champions Cup at the moment, Javier Hernandez has been an unused substitute on all three occasions against Club America, San Jose Earthquakes and Barcelona.
We think this speaks volumes, particularly because United are incredibly light in attack right now following the departures of Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie this summer.
The fact van Gaal has refrained from even taking a look at what Hernandez can do back at the club again following his loan spell at Real Madrid last term seems to suggest the writing is on the wall.
Combine this with the fact that Tottenham are again being linked with the Mexican international’s signature of late and a concrete bid from Spurs could be just around the corner.
Jonny Evans
Out of all of the centre backs in Louis van Gaal’s defensive ranks at present, you feel Northern Irish international Jonny Evans is most at risk of the chop.
Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are still considered in progress in terms of their development, Marcos Rojo is expected to play more of a role at centre back while both Paddy McNair and Tyler Blackett look exciting prospects.
For Evans on the other hand, he has been at United for a long time now and while he’s looked a capable defender on his day, costly errors have proved his undoing in recent times.
You feel if United eventually manage to get their hands on the likes of Valencia’s Nicolas Otamendi late in the window, it could be curtains for the long-serving Evans with Aston Villa, Everton and even Arsenal having been credited with an interest in the Red Devils’ academy product.
Nick Powell
Not part of the 29-man squad who are currently on tour in the International Champions Cup at present, Nick Powell is the dictionary definition of outcast at Old Trafford right now.
Suffering from that all too familiar fate of joining one of England’s elite clubs at such a young age from Crewe Alexandra and then perhaps regretting that decision, the reality for Powell is that he’s been playing Under-21 football for United and seems to be stuck at that level.
It’s unfortunate for Powell who even managed to score on his senior debut for United against Wigan Athletic under Sir Alex Ferguson back in 2012 but since then, he’s not been in the plans of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
While another loan spell is feasible, perhaps a permanent switch to a lesser Premier League side or top half Championship outfit is on the cards this time around.
Angel Di Maria
Upon signing Angel Di Maria for a record breaking near £60 million from Real Madrid last summer, Red Devils fans can’t have imagined he’d be making up a five-man list of players to be axed by the club just a year later.
It didn’t go to plan for the Argentine in his debut season in English football and while he started with a flourish, he even became an unused substitute behind the likes of Ashley Young late in the campaign.
Most United fans would love to see Di Maria get another crack at life in the Premier League next term but it’s looking increasingly likely that the Red Devils will give up on him at the first attempt with Paris Saint-Germain confident of closing a deal for his services.
With even PSG boss Laurent Blanc echoing this stance, we think that Di Maria will be disposed of with the cash from his sale then being used to tempt Pedro away from Barcelona as a like-for-like replacement.
Rafael
Like Nick Powell, Rafael is another member of United’s squad who has not travelled to North America for the International Champions Cup and when you consider Louis van Gaal has brought in fellow right back Matteo Darmian from Torino this summer, we think his Old Trafford future looks bleak.
van Gaal has already confirmed that Antonio Valencia will be his first choice option at right back this term meaning that Rafael is currently third in the pecking order.
Once a favourite of Sir Alex Ferguson in the position, it appears Rafael’s temperamental displays on the field have become too much for van Gaal to handle with the Brazilian often playing with a hot head.
With his twin brother Fabio having departed to join Cardiff City on a permanent deal in 2014, we reckon Rafael will suffer the same fate this time around.
However, having always been rated higher than his brother, we think Rafael will do a little better than the Bluebirds!
