Is the Daley Blind transfer a panic buy like Marouane Fellaini's?

Is Daley Blind's this years Marouane Fellaini?

Manchester United have splashed the cash this summer but after signing Luke Shaw, did they really need Daley Blind? Alex Johnson looks into the transfer.

In a move that echoes the panicked acquisition of Marouane Fellaini from Everton, Manchester United have signed Daley Blind from Ajax.

Fresh from another disappointing start to a season, manager Louis van Gaal, as David Moyes did before him, has turned to a familiar face when presented with adversity.

Blind is well known to the Dutch manager having played for Van Gaal for the national team, excelling in the left wingback role at the World Cup as the Dutch finished third in the competition in Brazil.

The son of the former Ajax and Dutch international defender Danny Blind, the 24-year-old can play as a traditional left-back, a left wingback or as a holding central midfielder. He joins United for a reported 14million.

Blind is the fifth signing of the summer for United, joining Angel Di Maria, Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera and Luke Shaw. It's the latter's signing that makes the Blind move something of a head scratcher though, with the two players ostensibly both left-sided defenders or wingbacks.

Shaw is the kind of bold move to grab an up-and-coming youngster that United have excelled with in the past - just look at the signings of Wayne Rooney from Everton, Cristiano Ronaldo from Sporting Lisbon and Phil Jones from Blackburn.

Blind, on the other hand, is the sort of player that Newcastle United sign, somewhat undervalued, playing on the continent and who can later be moved on for maximum value.

The arrival of Blind may signify a change of tactics at United where the 3-5-2 formation, which Van Gaal only adopted in the lead up to the World Cup, clearly is not working.

The Dutch youngster could play at the base of a 4-4-2 diamond in the holding role but with Di Maria and Juan Mata the logical choices to play the left and attacking midfield roles respectively, that would leave Herrera and Adnan Januzaj to battle for a single position.

Regardless, given his noted displeasure on the subject, United seem loathed to play Rooney in midfield in the manager's preferred 4-4-2-cum-4-5-1 that sees a forward drop back into the centre of midfield as needed.

That United have no obvious starting XI nor a logical tactical formation stands in stark contrast to the time of Sir Alex Ferguson and his mastery of both when manager at Old Trafford.

Ferguson was unique in his ability to build a squad that was engineered for not only consistent success, but also to minimise internal distractions over time. United usually had a clearly defined first team, reinforced with squad players who knew their role, veterans who could add the necessary support, and youngsters who were being blooded to arrive as the next generation.

Usually it worked superbly until Ferguson appeared to lose his touch with the likes of Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison, who should have been that new generation moving through in his final year before Moyes took over the reins.

The early floundering of Van Gaal, coming as it does after the horrific year the club suffered constantly mixing and matching under Moyes, highlights not only how good Ferguson was overall, but particularly how superb he marshalled his players to win the Premier League title in his final season at United.

The mystique of United disappeared with Ferguson and it will take a special manager, possibly even a Special One, to bring it back. For now the decision to sign Blind makes little overall sense, even if the Dutchman is a useful player.