Gary Neville: Gave his verdict on Manchester United's transfer window
Gary Neville has delivered his verdict on Man United's January transfer window, and feels outgoing Anderson will be disappointed with his stay.
After a summer which saw well over £150million worth of spending head through the doors at Old Trafford, Manchester United have had a low-key winter transfer window.
Free agent Victor Valdes has been drafted in as competition for first-choice goalkeeper David De Gea, while Sadiq El Fitouri was signed from Salford City to join the Under-21 squad.
Instead, much of the transfer window speculation has involved players leaving the Red Devils, with the futures of Darren Fletcher, Adnan Januzaj and Anderson coming under scrutiny.
United legend Gary Neville has given his verdict on United's January transfer window, passing his judgement on the seemingly outgoing Anderson, and discussing why keeping Fletcher and Januzaj is paramount.
Anderson will be disappointed with Manchester United career
When Sir Alex Ferguson signed midfielder Anderson from Porto for around £20million, few would have expected him to be shifted on for free eight years later. The 26-year-old has never truly reached any sort of potential he may have had at Old Trafford, and with Juan Mata breaking the news on his blog that the midfielder is moving back to his native Brazil, it seems to be the end of Anderson at United.
After making just two appearances this season, the Brazilian looks to have no future under Louis van Gaal. Former team-mate Neville feels that although Anderson showed glimpses of what he can do during his time there, he will look back on his United career "with some level of disappointment."
"He has had some really good performances, but not consistently and I wonder whether that has been because of fitness as he's picked up a lot of injuries," Neville told Sky Sports News HQ.
"I've played with him, he's got an enormous amount of talent.
"There have been some really big games at Anfield where he has shown he is capable of playing in the big matches.
"He is a big-game player, has a big-game mentality, lots of skill but never was fit enough to be able to do it consistently, week in and out in the Premier League and that's a real shame.
"That's when you have those players who look back at the end of their careers and wonder: 'Could I have been that little bit more driven?' He has the talent but lacked in other areas and was unfortunate with injuries."
The club are right not to let Adnan Januzaj leave on loan
Despite shining under David Moyes' doomed regime last season, Januzaj has found opportunities far more difficult to come by this season under van Gaal. Five starts in just 12 appearances represents the Belgium's game-time this season, with the likes of Daley Blind, Marouane Fellaini and now Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria competing for midfield places.
A loan move to Everton has been mooted, while PSG have been credited with an interest in the 19-year-old previously. However, Dutchman van Gaal seems intent to stick to his word on Januzaj and keep him for the rest of the season, but will he give the youngster more of a chance in the first-team?
Neville thinks so, and believes that keeping Januzaj at the club is best for both parties.
"He's played the last couple of games," Neville said.
"We're at a point now where Januzaj has to prove himself this season and I thought it would be a really good one for him with Louis van Gaal coming in.
"He seems his type of player; a winger, technical and gifted as we saw in his fantastic performances last season.
"I think you'll see him play quite a few games over the next few weeks.
"I certainly didn't think they'd allow him to go out on loan, no."
Darren Fletcher doesn't need to rush his exit
Another star who has found time on the pitch at a premium this season has been Darren Fletcher. The Scot has made 11 appearances this season after returning from injury problems which plagued him over the last two seasons.
The 31-year-old - one of the last remnants of Sir Alex Ferguson's reign - was set to join West Ham last week before negotiations broke down, leaving the likes of Celtic, West Brom and Valencia to battle it out for his signature.
However, with time running out, it seems likely that Fletcher will remain at Manchester United. While van Gaal will be more than happy to keep a more experienced head within his ranks, will Fletcher demand more playing time? Neville feels the Scot may be called upon in the second half of the season.
The former right-back said: "I think it's difficult because Manchester United don't really have any weekday matches and Louis van Gaal has a big squad so he might not play a lot.
"But with the injury to Michael Carrick for four weeks, maybe Fletcher will get some more football in the next four weeks.
"I don't think he'll be in a rush to get out of United; he can wait until the summer and do it in his own time."
The signing of Sadiq El Fitouri from Salford City is positive
Along with Valdes, right-back El Fitouri represents one of United's two January deals. The 20-year-old was a trialist at the club which Neville part-owns, Salford City, and although Neville admits he has never seen the Libyan-born defender in action, he says he comes with the seal of approval of two more members of the 'Class of '92'.
"I'd never seen the boy play but Phil Neville and Paul Scholes had been down," said the former England right-back
"The boy had been playing in the park for the previous six months and not really doing much since leaving Manchester City.
"He came down to Salford; Phil and Paul liked him straight away and said the kid has got too much talent to be disappearing out of the game.
"It says a lot about what happens to these players when they get released as big clubs don't want to take a chance on them.
"Many of them disappear out of the game when they do have the talent.
"It's something we've talked about for a long time, is the pathway there for when kids get dropped by the bigger clubs to get picked up by Bury, Oldham etc? It doesn't seem to be happening."
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