Louis van Gaal slammed by Manchester United fans after bringing on Nick Powell for Juan Mata

Powell last played for Manchester United in August 2014

Nick Powell

The last time Nick Powell played for Manchester United was on 26 August 2014.

You may not remember why that date was significant, but that night Louis van Gaal suffered one of the most embarrassing defeats of his Manchester United reign. It was the 4-0 League Cup defeat at the hands of MK Dons.

Powell, now 21, returned to the Manchester United first-team last night after a brief loan spell last season at Leicester City was cut short. He had suffered a serious injury at the start of the year and managed to only make three brief appearances for the Foxes.

Losing 2-1 after 70 minutes in a match United had to win to make sure of qualification to the knockout stages of the Champions League, Van Gaal decided to make a double substitution.

Michael Carrick came on for Bastian Schweinsteiger, no surprise. Juan Mata, who had earlier assisted Anthony Martial for the opening goal, also saw his number come up. The £37million Spaniard has five goals and six assists for United this season and has generally been seen as one of United’s better performers.

Ashley Young was on the bench, as was Andreas Pereira. But Van Gaal opted to go for Powell to replace Mata.

It’s a move that did not go down well with the United fan base:

The latest in a long line of strange decisions.