Louis van Gaal has suffered his first setback two days into the Manchester United job. Michael Carrick has had an operation on his left ankle ligaments and will be out for 10 to 12 weeks, missing the start of the season.

Van Gaal said: “Michael Carrick was injured a day or two ago so that’s a big blow, because he is an experienced player.”

At his first press conference as manager, Van Gaal responded to a follow-up question by saying Carrick would be out for “a long time, too long”, but gave no details of the injury.

The manager appeared to be an admirer of the 32-year-old Carrick. “You have to know that I’m not always convinced of the experience of players,” he said.

“For example, a boy like Clarence Seedorf – he was 16 years old when I let him make his debut for Ajax but he was sometimes more experienced than a player of 30 years old.

“It’s very important that we have experienced players but not only in age, not only in football but also experience as human being. My philosophy is not only the football player but also in total – and then there are not so many ’experienced’ players.”