The Complete List of Man Utd’s Player Arrivals and Departures Under Van Gaal
The end of the Ferguson era was always going to be a massive and difficult transition, particularly as he bequeathed the club an aging squad that had been undeniably neglected in a few key areas for quite some time. Moyes brought in Fellaini and Mata for big money, and released a handful of youngsters, but his major overhaul was in the backroom department.
By contrast, Van Gaal has been relentless in his transformation of the team – a colossal clear-out has taken place over recent transfer windows, whilst some major repair work has been done on the midfield, and to a lesser extent, the defence.
As we head into the first game of the 2015/16 season, we’ve compiled the full list of players out and players in under Louis Van Gaal.
Departures 2014/15
| Player | Club | Transfer sum |
| Danny Welbeck | Arsenal FC | £14.00m |
| Shinji Kagawa | Bor. Dortmund | £5.60m |
| Alexander Büttner | Dinamo Moscow | £3.85m |
| Wilfried Zaha | Crystal Palace | £2.68m |
| Bebé | Benfica | £2.10m |
| Michael Keane | Burnley FC | £1.79m |
| Patrice Evra | Juventus | £1.05m |
| Tom Lawrence | Leicester City | £882k |
| Sam Byrne | Everton | Free transfer |
| Jack Rudge | Halesowen | Free transfer |
| Louis Rowley | Leicester City | Free transfer |
| Davide Petrucci | CFR Cluj | Free transfer |
| Pierluigi Gollini | Hellas Verona | Free transfer |
| Federico Macheda | Cardiff | Free transfer |
| Jack Barmby | Leicester City | Free transfer |
| Anderson | Internacional | Free transfer |
| Darren Fletcher | West Brom | Free transfer |
| Nemanja Vidic | Inter | Free transfer |
| Rio Ferdinand | QPR | Free transfer |
| Marnick Vermijl | Sheff Wed | ? |
| Jonathan Sutherland | Unattached | – |
| Ryan Giggs | End of career | – |
Arrivals 2014/15
| Player | Club | Transfer sum |
| Ángel Di María | Real Madrid | £52.50m |
| Luke Shaw | Southampton FC | £26.25m |
| Ander Herrera | Athletic Bilbao | £25.20m |
| Marcos Rojo | Sporting CP | £14.00m |
| Daley Blind | Ajax Amsterdam | £12.25m |
| Falcao | AS Monaco | Loan fee: £5.32m |
| Vanja Milinković-Savić | FK Vojvodina | £1.23m |
| Sadiq El Fitouri | Salford City | ? |
| Víctor Valdés | Unattached | – |
Departures 2015/16
| Player | Club | Transfer sum |
| Nani | Fenerbahce SK | £4.20m |
| Robin van Persie | Fenerbahce SK | £3.85m |
| Rafael | Olympique Lyon | £2.10m |
| Ángelo Henríquez | GNK Dinamo Zagreb | £1.17m |
| Tom Cleverley | Everton FC | Free transfer |
| Tom Thorpe | Rotherham United | Free transfer |
| Ben Amos | Bolton Wanderers | Free transfer |
| Saidy Janko | Celtic FC | ? |
| Reece James | Wigan Athletic | ? |
Arrivals 2015/16
| Player | Club | Transfer sum |
| Morgan Schneiderlin | Southampton FC | £24.50m |
| Memphis Depay | PSV Eindhoven | £19.25m |
| Bastian Schweinsteiger | Bayern Munich | £12.60m |
| Matteo Darmian | Torino FC | £12.60m |
| Sergio Romero | UC Sampdoria | Free transfer |
All data from Transfermarkt.co.uk.
Total Players Out & In
A total of 31 players have permanently left the club since Van Gaal took over as manager. We have generated £43.27m in transfer fees from these deals.
During the same period, 14 players have joined the club (12 excluding Falcao and Di Maria), at a total cost of £205.7m.
The departures of Van Persie, Falcao and Nani alone cleared £30m off the club’s wage bill – if Di Maria’s move to PSG is confirmed, that will be another £14m off the annual expenses sheet.
We currently have just 3 players out on loan – Joe Rothwell and Ben Pearson at Barnsley, and Will Keane at Preston North End.
Is Van Gaal’s United Overhaul Complete?
With 26 days of the transfer window left, there could still be some major ins and outs. Pedro and Cillessen in, De Gea out, seem like the most likely deals right now, but there could yet be some surprises afoot. We will update this page when the transfer window ends, but for now, you can keep up with all the latest Man Utd transfer rumours here.
You seem to forget that United have also added to the wage bill