Louis van Gaal has ensured that Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling will take full part in Manchester United’s pre-season tour of the US less than four weeks after England’s early World Cup exit, in what represents a major boost to the new manager as he bids to make the club title challengers again.

England’s final match of a dismal campaign in Brazil was the 0-0 draw with Costa Rica on 24 June in Belo Horizonte. Players are normally granted at least four weeks off following a major tournament. But with United flying out to their California training base on 18 July, the England quintet will have had a few days less than a month away.

However given that only Rooney was involved in all three group matches – and the last of these as a late replacement – while Welbeck did not feature against Costa Rica, which provided the only appearance for Smalling, Shaw and Jones, Van Gaal has asked to have all five on a tour that will feature at least four games.

Given the disruption caused by the World Cup – Holland’s Robin van Persie, for example, will not join up with Van Gaal at United until August – the 62-year-old is keen to have as many of his squad together as he begins working on fitness, team shape and overall strategy for next season.

Van Gaal takes official charge of United once Holland’s World Cup campaign ends – his team face Argentina in Wednesday’s semi-final – and the Dutchman plans to start work almost immediately. Even if Holland lose to Argentina, Van Gaal’s side still have a third-place playoff game on Saturday meaning he will have little time for rest before meeting the players for the first time as a group.

With the recent purchases of Athletic Bilbao’s Ander Herrera and Southampton’s Shaw representing Van Gaal’s first two acquisitions and Antonio Valencia having signed a new deal – all of which occurred during Brazil 2014 – the Dutchman will address all other contract business once the tournament ends. It is expected that Jones, who has two years left on his present terms, is one player who will be offered an extension.

Ronald de Boer, the Ajax assistant coach who played under Van Gaal at the Dutch club and at Barcelona, believes the manager is a fine choice to rebuild United following last season’s dismal title defence.

“Van Gaal is the best coach I ever worked with. He is the best chance for a team to have success,” De Boer told TalkSport. “Nobody really believed in this [Holland] team, but I said, ‘if one man can change this team, it is Louis van Gaal’. It is the same for Manchester United. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, of course, like we have had in this tournament and it will be the same at Manchester United.

“In the long term you will have success with him, but do you have the patience? He could win the Premier League title, or maybe the Champions League, but it is not really realistic, of course.”