We know that there’s been a lot of changes around Old Trafford lately, but some photographic wizardry by the Daily Mail on a squad photo from last season has really brought it home.
Although Louis van Gaal has been in place as manager for a few months now, a new era at Manchester United really gets underway this weekend in the first game since some new faces arrived and a glut of old ones departed the club in the dying days of the transfer window.
While the likes of Falcao, Daley Blind and Angel di Maria (who’ll be playing his first game as a United player at Old Trafford) will seek to make an instant impression with United fans at home to QPR on Sunday, it’s striking to see how many players and staff have actually left the club over the last 12 months.
Pic via Daily Mail
The Daily Mail helped illustrate the state of flux at the club by taking a squad picture from last season and greying out everyone who has left the club in the intervening period, which amounts to 17 between players and coaching staff; some turnover indeed.
Those who have left include recent departures like Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverley and Shinji Kagawa, senior figures like Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra and six members of the backroom staff, including Philip Neville and, of course, David Moyes.
Many United fans will argue that a smaller squad enhanced by the arrival of the aforementioned Falcao, Blind and Di Maria, as well as Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw, is more agreeable than the squad that started last season, but with only two points from the opening three games, they’ll need to start showing their worth and fast.
