Tuesday, 12th August, 2014
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has revealed that Robin van Persie, Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini will not feature in the club’s final pre-season friendly against Valencia today.
It will be the first time that Van Gaal will lead the Red Devils out at Old Trafford since taking charge of the club last month, and the Dutchman insisted that the trio will not play against the Spanish outfit.
Van Persie, Januzaj and Fellaini returned to Manchester United earlier in the month due to their involvement in the latter stages of the World Cup.
And Van Gaal feels the trio are not fit enough to take the field after just a week of training under their belt.
"The players have to be fit and the first thing you can do is be fit", he explained to MUTV.
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"I don't think they are fit after one week of training sessions. Surely not, when you compare it with players I have already trained.
"It is more difficult as they are not as the same level as the players we have trained already and have already played 45 minutes, 60 minutes or 90 minutes.
“So that is difficult. They came later, like Januzaj, Fellaini and van Persie so it is difficult to start at the same level. So we have to adjust and that is difficult."
Manchester United, who will start their Premier League campaign against Swansea City on Saturday, are unbeaten in pre-season, winning all five of their games in the United States.
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