Man Utd Transfers: 10 Signings Louis Van Gaal Should Have Made

6. William Carvalho

Along with being linked with a host of central defenders this summer, Manchester United were also backed to improve their midfield by bringing in an enforcer to add some steel to their engine room. A series of names were linked with a switch to Old Trafford - some of whom we will come to later in this list - and one of those was William Carvalho. The Sporting Lisbon man was on the radar of a number of Premier League sides, with both Arsenal and United keen on the defensive midfielder. and given the Red Devil's woes in central midfield, the Portugal international would surely have made for a good signing. Marouane Fellaini has flopped following his move from Everton last summer, and Carvalho would have been a more-than-able alternative. Yet despite the speculation that United were interested, nothing came to fruition and Carvalho remained at Sporting. The Reds have a positive working relationship with Lisbon, having signed Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani from them in the past, while they agreed to loan the latter back to them earlier this summer. Surely van Gaal and Ed Woodward could have taken advantage of that relationship and negotiated for Carvalho to be included in part-exchange as part of that deal?