Louis van Gaal has defended his decision to sell Javier Hernandez, before hinting Manchester United could sign a new attacker in January.

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has stressed that he sold Javier Hernandez to Bayer Leverkusen because he could not guarantee the Mexican striker regular first-team action.

The Dutchman has received his fair share of criticism over his decision to sell Hernandez following his sublime form for Leverkusen in recent months, but Van Gaal believes the 27-year-old would have become unhappy had he stayed at Old Trafford.

"We could have kept all the strikers, but then there would have been a lot of strikers in the stand. They are not happy then. They want to go away. It is the story of Hernandez for example," Van Gaal was quoted as saying by The Telegraph. "He wants to play. I can imagine that he can't always play in this world."

Van Gaal suggested Hernandez may not have gotten a chance to display the form he's shown at Leverkusen had he remained at Manchester United.

"There are now players in my selection who want to play. They cannot play because I choose another player. That is always like that," Van Gaal said. "Too many strikers of high quality for the same position is too much pressure. I don't believe too much in competition. I believe in trust and confidence. Maybe that is wrong but I have done it all my life as a manager. I give trust to the players."

But Van Gaal has relatively few options up front following the departure of Hernandez, Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao and he is ready to add some fresh blood to his squad in the January transfer window.

"But now I don't have the chance to make changes in attack. It can be solved with money but also on the training pitch. We are training but scoring goals is a quality," he added. "We have that quality but at this moment there is a lack of confidence at the right time or we need to buy another striker. It is always like that."