Monday 20 July 2015 17:14, UK
Louis van Gaal offloading big names at Manchester United is a quality former Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson had, says Bryan Robson.
The United boss has raised a few eyebrows over the last three months by deciding to ditch strikers Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao and goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
During his time at the helm at United, Ferguson was heavily criticised by some when he sold Roy Keane, David Beckham, Jaap Stam and Ruud van Nistelrooy when he felt they were not good enough or lacked the discipline and commitment he demanded.
Van Gaal recently sold Van Persie to Fenerbahce just 12 months after he was Holland captain under the former Barcelona coach, he released loanee Falcao after one poor season and last week announced that Valdes, the goalkeeper he gave his Barcelona debut to 13 years ago, would be moving on after apparently refusing to play for the reserves.
"It's very similar to Sir Alex Ferguson," former midfielder Robson said. "Louis van Gaal has been very successful in his career. He has been a bit ruthless with a few of his decisions lately and that is what good managers do.
"At certain stages, managers have to make major decisions and sometimes people have to move on and the manager has got to change things the way he sees it. And that is what he is doing, that's part of his job - you have to be ruthless at stages.
"With Valdes, it didn't suit the manager, so he has moved him on."
Valdes has been left out of United's squad for their pre-season tour of the United States and Turkish club Antalyaspor are interested in the goalkeeper's services.
Van Gaal has also acted decisively in adding to his squad with Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian all joining the club,
But the biggest coup for Robson is the capture of Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munich.
"I have always admired him. He has outstanding quality, he can be a big influence at Manchester United this year," the 58-year-old ex-skipper added.
"I like his attitude. In the World Cup final someone made a real bad tackle on him and he got up and the next minute someone hit him in the face, he was bleeding, but he wasn't rolling about.
"He just got up, got treatment and got on with the game. He is not just one of these players that falls down, and rolls over the place. He is a really good character so for someone like myself it's great to see him in our squad."
Schweinsteiger and the rest of his team-mates flew to San Jose from Seattle on Monday to begin the second leg of United's tour of the United States.
United, who beat Club America in their tour opener on Saturday, take on San Jose Earthquakes at the Avaya Stadium in the early hours of Wednesday morning before playing Barcelona in the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara on Saturday.
Van Gaal's men then round off their tour with a friendly against Paris Saint-Germain in Chicago on July 30.
