SQUAD GOALS Return to Euro nights mean manager faces balancing act

SCHEDULE MEANS REDS MUST LOOK AT BRINGING IN SEVEN TO REBUILD STARTING XI AND BEYOND

- SAMUEL LUCKHURST

QUALIFICATION for the Europa League would not ordinarily be celebrated by United but it was an added bonus of their sweetest FA Cup triumph in nearly 20 years.

United will generate matchday revenue of around £13.2million from at least four home games as part of the competition's league revamp. Their participation also secures £5.39m in prize money.

A dilemma for United now is their squad size.

Had they lost to City, they would have had no European football and entered the League Cup in the second round in August.

That last happened ten years ago when the ruthless Louis van Gaal initiated a mass squad cull.

Six incomings were offset by umpteen outgoings. Patrice Evra, Danny Welbeck, Shinji Kagawa, Bebe, Alex Buttner, Michael Keane, Nani, Javier Hernandez, Wilfried Zaha and Tom Cleverley all left either permanently or on loan.

United needed a smaller squad to contend with a reduced schedule. Van Gaal was so undeterred by the humiliating 4-0 drubbing at League One MK Dons in the second round he delayed congratulating manager Karl Robinson to sign autographs for nearby fans.

Five of the United starters were gone by the end of the month. United took a leap into the unknown in 2014. It was the first time they had failed to qualify for the Champions League in 19 years and the parsimonious Glazer family allowed Ed Woodward to throw money at the problem with a record summer investment of £152m.

Financial fair play was not a concern for United back then so players were given away for tuppence. It is now.