Van Gaal: It’s easier to buy players at Leicester

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal claims it is easier to buy players when you manage Leicester City, even though he has spent £250m in the last two seasons.

In contrast, the Premier League leaders have spent around £55m in the same period, with PFA Player of the Year nominee N’Golo Kanté arriving for just £5.6m.

Van Gaal has experience of winning a league title with an unfashionable club having led AZ Alkmaar to the Eredivisie crown in 2009.

He praised the job done by Ranieri and his players but argued in some ways Leicester have an advantage over their bigger rivals.

He said: “As a club of AZ or a smaller club like Leicester, it is more easy to buy players. It’s not so easy to buy players for a club like Manchester United.

“You have to pay much more, you have to pay also the agents, and then you have the player himself. Also the pressure of the transfer of players is less big, and also for the players who have to perform it’s less. So it’s a big difference.

“But it’s also a fantastic performance of Leicester City, and at that time AZ, to beat the top clubs. The performance of Ranieri and his players is fantastic because they are not used to winning every game and they have to win every game, and they have done it.

“I believe that they shall be at the end the champions.”