Manchester United’s David de Gea absent again for Villa trip

Louis van Gaal has said David de Gea will continue to be frozen out at Manchester United and challenged his team to improve their away record after insisting he is not concerned by Hristo Stoichkov's caustic remarks about him "destroying" the Old Trafford club.

United’s manager said he had not seen anything to change his mind about bringing De Gea back into his side for the game at Aston Villa on Friday.

His belief is that De Gea is still not in the right frame of mind to play – "he remains out of the squad" – while there is the possibility of him joining Real Madrid before the transfer window closes. The Argentina international Sergio Romero will continue in his place.

Van Gaal also stated that Adnan Januzaj was "still not for sale" and revealed that he had told Javier Hernandez that he will have to grow accustomed to being Wayne Rooney's understudy if he wants to stay at Old Trafford. "The striker is Rooney and Hernandez is the second striker, and he knows that."

However, Van Gaal also had to address the comments from Stoichkov, his former player at Barcelona, denouncing the Dutchman’s work and urging Pedro not to leave Camp Nou to join him. Stoichkov had held a grudge against Van Gaal for many years and the target of his criticism said he was not surprised by the latest outburst.

"I always consider who is saying these things and then I know why," Van Gaal said. "It is not bothering me. He is one of the players I sent away [from Barcelona] and that is why he is doing that. I'm used to that. When you hear Luca Toni from Italy, he says the same things. But there are more players who speak very highly about me than say the things that Toni or Stoichkov are saying."

United have not lost a league game at Villa Park since 1995 but Van Gaal is also aware there has to be a significant improvement in his team’s away record if they are to make a realistic title challenge. Last season they did not win an away game until November 22nd and finished with only six victories on their travels.

“The key for success this season is improving in away matches. We were one of the best last season at home and I want to create a fortress at Old Trafford. We did that but away we have to improve because last year we were not good.”

(Guardian service)