Friday, 19th September, 2014



Adnan Januzaj must fight for a spot in the Manchester United first team, boss Louis van Gaal has insisted.

The Belgian winger was a regular under former manager David Moyes last season, but this term has found himself reduced to substitute appearances as Van Gaal has preferred other options.

Januzaj pushed his case hard in a Manchester United Under-21 game against Sunderland earlier this week, hitting an impressive hat-trick in a 4-0 win.

But Van Gaal is unmoved and insists he has a number of options to choose from when it comes to providing an attacking threat.

 

“He has to compete with very good players. You cannot put 15 players in the squad, only 11, and with this system he has to compete with a lot of very strong strikers”, the Dutchman explained at a press conference this afternoon.

“Then we have [Wayne] Rooney, Adnan Januzaj and James Wilson. We have five players for the two striker positions.”

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Hope has been held out for the Belgian of more opportunities though, with Van Gaal making clear he could choose to change the formation he plays, which may in turn mean more attack minded players are required.

“When we play 4-3-3 for example then Januzaj could have maybe more chances; it depends on the system we use.”

Januzaj will hope for a chance to impress on Sunday when Manchester United face Leicester City.

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