Van Gaal confident in new signings

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal is delighted with his summer purchases so far and feels his squad will be in good shape to challenge for honours in 2015/16.
At a press conference in Seattle to unveil Matteo Darmian, Morgan Schneiderlin and Bastian Schweinsteiger, van Gaal declared he was "proud" to have captured the trio and outlined his reasons for signing each of them.
"I'm very happy because, in my opinion, they are very good players," the boss said. "That's why we have bought them.
"I'm very happy they're here before the tour – we can prepare all the team elements with them. There's also Memphis Depay and now the three new signings. It's much better than last year.
"Our selection was not in balance [last season]. I wanted balance with my midfielders, so you could expect that I should buy two holding midfielders. Morgan is the type who I think can play in our system and in our philosophy.
"Manchester United only buy players who can make a contribution to that. We are not buying for buying's sake. Every player who is sitting here can make a contribution."
On Italian full-back Darmian, van Gaal said: "I always want a player who can defend in the first place. Matteo has very good orientation. He's also fast, he's a reasonable header of the ball – that's also a plus. And he can build up play."
And of Germany captain Schweinsteiger, who he managed at Bayern Munich, the manager added: "I'm not only looking to the qualities of the player but also how he is as a human being.
"I believe he will do his utmost best to perform in the same way he did at Bayern. I have a lot of confidence in him.
"Morgan has played in the Premier League. The question is with Bastian and Matteo: can they cope with the Premier League? I'm fully confident they can."
However, van Gaal warned that none of his new signings would be guaranteed a place in the side next season.
"They know already that they have to fight for their position," the Dutchman continued. "It's never secure. Morgan has to fight with Schweinsteiger, Carrick, Blind... these are the players who can play in the centre of midfield.
"Darmian has to fight with Valencia. He knows that and Valencia knows that also. And Michael Carrick knows as well – I told him at the end of last season. The difficulty is to get these players – it's not so easy – and I'm very proud, especially of Ed Woodward, that he's done that."