Sorry I'm late getting back to you on this mare, very interesting post. Do you think LvG might have had a mind to tweak his usual preferences after a season in the PL, which is a very different animal to the other leagues he has manged in?
When I look at our options and how much we need Rooney to play the #9 and how unsuited I see Di Maria in a possession based midfield, it makes me think we should be looking for two versatile CM's this summer before we worry about anything else, because for me we are really short on competition/cover/rotation options in the Herrera and Felliani roles without disrupting other areas of the team.
He's had to change a little bit, but not that much actually. Fellaini at 10 isn't what he normally would use (he usually uses players with better passing - not trying to discredit the big man) but he did use tall players as target man before if his plan A didn't work. For now Fellaini helped him with the defensive balance and gives the team another option with long balls. That isn't new, the position he's playing in is though (like I've said - 10 is very important for him and normally doesn't need to provide defensive balance). It works though and I assume he's happy with this, we just need depth and different options.
As we see with the current injuries: we're very light on options for defensive minded midfielders for balance, Rooney is the only candidate for all 3 midfield spots to bring him that. We don't need a Pogba who's another 10 who could play at 8. We need an 8 who can play at 6. This way he wouldn't have to buy 2 CM of whom one would probably be benched alot. We might have some youth players he likes as extra backup for defensive midfield, but I don't follow the youth that much so I wouldn't know.
That would make him have the options of 2 balanced, yet different, midfields which he could even mix up. We know he likes to tinker and come up with specific gameplans, this would suit him very much. Since he likes multifunctional players he would be able to keep the squad size down (which he likes) and still have plenty of competition for every spot.
If we bring in one 8/6 we would have (using Schneiderlin as example):
6: Carrick, Blind, Schneiderlin, youth/Rooney
8: Herrera, Schneiderlin, youth/Rooney (Fellaini? not sure)
10: Fellaini, Mata, youth/Rooney, Herrera
Only if alot of midfielders get injured again (which you can't really prepare for) we'd be in a spot of bother by needing to move Rooney again (10 is acceptable I think for him, 6 and 8 not so much). Otherwise he'd always be able to field 2 midfielders who give him defensive balance. Alot of his starting XI have been hampered by him wanting this balance but not having the players for it.
He said he underestimated the physicality of the PL but Fellaini currently is giving him that, the new CM will probably be very strong too so he has more options to give him this. It could be that he brings in 2 midfielders, but one probably won't be a starter - with his love for bringing trough youth players I'm not convinced of him buying a player to warm the bench though. It could happen though, I just think his love for smaller squads, multifunctional players and use of youth is bigger than calculating in both our 8's get injured for a long time (Blind, Rooney, youth or Fellaini should be able to suffice for 1-2 matches if need be).
