When Louis van Gaal gets his best players back... you watch Manchester United, warns Sir Alex Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson has broken his silence over Louis van Gaal’s modern Manchester United by predicting his old team will become a force in the Barclays Premier League in the new year.

Ferguson has largely watched from afar as Van Gaal and his injury-hit squad have struggled to keep up with Chelsea and Manchester City at the top of the table.

But now Ferguson has backed Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney to propel United’s charge. ‘First of all, Louis van Gaal,’ said the former Old Trafford  boss. ‘I don’t know how he can expect to get the best results with the number of injuries he has had. When he gets the best players back — you watch United. He is a great coach and will do well.

When I took Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic in January of the same year they were all over the place. They took five months to get used to playing for Manchester United — the culture, the history of the club — and these new players will be exactly the same.

‘The one that is most pleasing for me of the present lot is David de Gea. When we bought him as a kid, he was frail, but he had ability. He has special talents and he is showing that now. I’m really pleased for that kid.’

City and Chelsea are title favourites and if Ferguson could pick a winner it would be the Londoners, not just because of United’s rivalry with City but due to his friendship with Jose Mourinho.