Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has admitted that he will have to fight for his place if he is to remain in Louis van Gaal’s starting XI.
Herrera, 25, had a great first season in England and was easily the second best player in the side behind David De Gea last season.
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The midfielder was creative while he also provided that box-to-box energy that United had missed in the last two seasons. Ex-midfielder Paul Scholes was the last central midfielder to light up Old Trafford and Herrera brought that excitement back with his eight goals last season, including one against Arsenal towards the end of the season.
Michael Carrick is still ever present in the midfield but the 33 year-old does the anchorman job which he is usually very underrated for. However, with new signings arriving in the last few weeks, competition for places will now be stronger than ever under Van Gaal.
Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin have both come in for around a combined fee of £40million and they will be looking to start each week. And that has put Herrera on alert with the former Athletic Bilbao star ready to fight for his place.
He said, as reported by Manchester Evening News: “After one season I know how big this club is and how well I have to play to keep playing for Manchester United. I am happy with my development last season but this is Manchester United and I have to keep improving if I want to play for this club.”
"“That’s why I said ‘this is Manchester United’, we have the capacity to buy new players, we have the best players in the world, but I think it’s good for me. I’m a young player, I want to keep improving and, of course, it’s always difficult to keep playing here.“Now there are even better players than last season, but it’s a good challenge for me. I love football, I love my job and I love to improve, so I don’t see that as a problem. I see it as a new challenge that will make me better.“Every manager, at the beginning of the season, has his own idea of what the team should be. But every team never finishes a season as it started it. Everyone is going to get their chance, me the same, so I think always the same.“The most important thing if we win something, if we win a title, if we are playing for the Champions League, everyone is going to be important, because the big teams are formed with 20-22 players, not only 11.“So if we are here in America, it’s because the manager wants us to play for United. You do the big seasons with a lot of players, not just 11.”"
Herrera settled into the Premier League well last year as he started the first few games under Van Gaal. However, the Spaniard was part of a starting XI that included Radamel Falcao, Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney and it was hard to include them all with results not going the Red Devils’ way.
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He then lost his place for a few months and many were fearing his United career could come to an abrupt end but that wasn’t to be. In February Herrera put in a strong display against Preston North End in the FA Cup and from then played in the last 15 games of the season.
It was a dramatic turn around and one he said put down into believing in his ability.
"“I always believed in myself when I was not playing much,” Ander added.“I knew in advance I was coming to maybe the biggest club in the world, so I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to play, otherwise I would have stayed in Bilbao, where maybe it would have been easier for me to play.“But as I told you, I love the challenge, I love to have the chance to play for Manchester United. Now we have a new season, with the chance to play in the Champions League, so when I am not playing, I am calm, because I believe in my qualities.”"
United play Barcelona on Saturday with a strong stating XI expected to be picked up by Van Gaal.