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All great managers have a ruthless streak.

Sir Alex Ferguson would make crucial, unexpected and unpopular and lonely decisions which he felt were for the benefit of Manchester United.

Roy Keane, David Beckham and Ruud van Nistelrooy were all surprise departures, big name players on top money.

Ferguson wasn’t on the Christmas card list of any of them in the immediate aftermath and while he’s fine now with Beckham and Van Nistelrooy, the fallout with Keane is still to heal. What matters though is that Ferguson felt he was vindicated.

From finishing third and struggling to score in 2005, United were European Cup winners and English champions three years later.

Louis van Gaal has shown similar ruthlessness this week. The focus of United fans is rightly on the four new signings: Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin, Memphis Depay and Matteo Darmian.

They’ve excited fans with good reason, especially as the club have acted decisively. There will be more. United want at least one more defender and a striker.

A new young goalkeeper is expected to be signed from Van Gaal’s former club AZ Alkmaar, though not as first choice.

There will be more departures too, with the goalkeeping department likely subject to several changes. Victor Valdes, left out of the US tour, is highly unlikely to be replacing De Gea as United’s number one as he once hoped – another key decision made by Van Gaal.

Robin van Persie and Nani have already left for the yellow-hot atmosphere of life at Fenerbahce.

Van Persie’s mind will be getting to grips with his swift and ruthless Old Trafford departure, but United needed his huge wages off the books.

And when he looks back at his career he’ll be able to say, among many other accomplishments, that he’s played in some of the biggest derbies in world football: Feyenoord v Ajax, Arsenal v Spurs, United v City and Fenerbahce v Galatasaray and Besiktas.

Not only that, he’s played a decisive part in them, not that City fans reading this column will share the delight of Reds when they recall Van Persie’s 92 minute goal in the December 2012 Manchester derby.

Van Persie always trained exceptionally well at United and teammates were staggered by his skill, but it was in games where he became less effective after that wondrous title winning first season. Van Gaal, however, didn’t question his compatriot’s work ethic like he did of some of the other players he’s let go.

For Van Gaal, who has to push United into serious challengers for trophies this season or his own reputation will be hammered, it’s all about the team.

If he feels that a player is cocky, arrogant, egotistical or moody then he has no time for them.

Nani and Van Gaal didn’t see eye-to-eye, while right back has been a position which has been troubling the United manager and his predecessor David Moyes.

South American players feel that Van Gaal has an aversion to them, from Juan Roman Riquelme at Barça to Radamel Falcao at Old Trafford.

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Rafael will go along with that. The only surprise was that the Brazilian didn’t leave last August, but United left much of their business late because Van Gaal wanted to give every player a chance on the American pre-season tour.

He did that.

Things are far more settled this time and not only because United will stay in one training base for the majority of the trip.

United have signed early and signed well.

The club were confident of concluding deals before the four match US tour began and despite the impatience of some fans, they did exactly that.

The squad is still not complete and nobody will be reading too much into pre-season form given that United outclassed Real Madrid last August before losing at home to Swansea in the first league game, but Reds are understandably optimistic.

They see sense in Van Gaal’s decisions.

They just hope he’s called them – and the ones to follow - right.