However, Van Gaal has admitted to Rooney that he blunted his threat last season by asking him to play as a makeshift midfielder due to injuries to the likes of Michael Carrick and Daley Blind. The Dutch manager believes that the game’s leading strikers are all performing for powerful Euro­pean clubs, making it hugely difficult for the manager to improve his attacking options as a result. Van Gaal has identified Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and Paris St-Germain’s Edinson Cavani as leading targets, but neither player will be sold this summer.