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Louis van Gaal’s £200m United jigsaw is set to have its first piece slotted in with the signing of Ander Herrera from Athletic Bilbao for £29m.

The 24-year-old Basque midfielder is finally about to make the move to Old Trafford ten months since the Reds original interest collapsed and three years since the club’s first interest in him.

Last summer David Moyes identified the Spanish playmaker as a key figure in his recruitment plans.

But a proposed deadline day move last summer collapsed amid bizarre circumstances.

Three lawyers turned up at the Spanish League’s HQ claiming to be working on United’s behalf in the negotiations for Herrera and saying they had permission to sign off the deal having agreed to his £32m buy-out clause.

United’s top brass were baffled and angry over the imposters’ intervention.

Ultimately the deal fell through because Athletic were demanding a fee that would have broken United’s then record outlay of £30.75m for Dimitar Berbatov. Moyes and Old Trafford money men didn’t think Herrera was ready to be saddled with a new record price tag.

Herrera was delighted United wanted to sign him but wasn’t hurt by the way the deal collapsed in such a bizarre way.

“I do not feel used by United. How can I feel used? They made a formal offer. Athletic did not want to negotiate, I value that. They (United) had to pay the €36m clause. I reached no agreement with United. I am proud they made an offer for me and that Athletic wanted me to stay.”

The Reds have since smashed their record by paying £37.1m to sign Juan Mata from Chelsea last January so at least there won’t that pressure on the import.

Much of the groundwork for the Herrera to Old Trafford deal was done in the Moyes era but it is understood that that is not why new boss van Gaal has chosen the midfielder to help underpin his United revolution.

Van Gaal has already rejected two Moyes targets in Bayern Munich’s Toni Kroos and Cesc Fabregas – the latter of which instead left Barcelona for Chelsea.

But the 62-year-old Dutch manager wants Herrera, seeing him as an ideal fit for his tactical vision.

Van Gaal has enhanced his master tactician status at the World Cup in Brazil by piloting Holland to the last 16.

The Dutch were unfancied going into the tournament and the media in the Netherlands were sceptical of van Gaal’s decision to ditch the 4-3-3 formation entrenched in the Oranje’s modern history.

But he won over the doubters with a masterclass against world champions Spain in their Group B opener.

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Despite Spain taking the lead, van Gaal stuck with his 5-3-2 blueprint and after United striker Robin van Persie brilliantly equalised before half-time, the Dutch went on the rampage and recorded a stunning 5-1 thrashing.

Van Gaal’s tactics are based on a solid defence which soaks up pressure before his side hits opponents on the break, counter-attacking with the vision of Wesley Sneijder and pace of Arjen Robben.

Against Australia, however, he swapped formation again, reverting back to a more adventurous 4-3-3 system to overcome the Socceroos.

The capture of Herrera could see him filling the playmaker role Sneijder performs for the Dutch side. Though Herrera can play wide midfield, he has been best employed centrally for Bilbao.

He has not been afraid to get stuck in and has picked up four red cards in his career and is shown a yellow on average once every three and a half matches.

The 24-year-old has won himself a reputation not only as an excellent passer who has the ability to pick out runs by team-mates but also as a player who is prepared to have a shot himself.

When Sir Alex Ferguson’s scouts began to monitor him it was with a possible view for the Basque player to fill the void left by Paul Scholes. It was an idea that Moyes bought into as well when he took up the pursuit.

Now he fits nicely for van Gaal in the Sneijder role or like Andreas Iniesta who van Gaal helped bring through at Barcelona.

The United revolution is under way.