Rooney excited by new Manchester United signings

The Red Devils captain is confident that Louis van Gaal has a squad in place to be successful in the 2015-16 campaign and says that the new arrivals can provide "an extra gear"

Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney is confident that the club's new signings will help to ensure a successful 2015-16 campaign.

Louis van Gaal has been busy in the transfer market, recruiting the likes of Memphis Depay, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Morgan Schneiderlin and Matteo Darmian as he looks to assemble a squad capable of winning the Premier League title.

And Rooney believes that the new additions will provide United with "an extra gear" as they aim to improve on last season's fourth-placed finish.

He told MUTV: "We've had new players come in, quality players, and we feel they can give us an extra gear to what we had last season.

"Obviously the lads who were here already understand how the manager wants us to work. For the first couple of months last season it was probably a bit difficult to take everything in and go out and perform but we fully understand what the manager wants and, now we've added a few players, it's exciting.



"I feel we have the right squad in terms of hoping to be successful in the new season and I think it's an exciting time for the team."

Rooney highlighted the signing of Depay from PSV, noting that the strike duo have been working on improving their partnership in training. He said: "It's still early days [for us playing together] but obviously Memphis is a fantastic talent.

"We're still working on things in training to try to get better together and get a better understanding of each other’s games which is important."

United have beaten Club America, San Jose Earthquakes and Barcelona in their three pre-season games thus far and Rooney believes that the preparation for the new campaign could not have been better.

"It's always a difficult game against Barcelona but to get the victory and with the way we played made it very satisfying," he added.

"A lot of the younger players came on for the last 30 minutes and did really well against a quality team. That will give them a lot of confidence.

"We know pre-season is hard work but it's important we do as well as we can and be ready for the start of the season. In terms of preparation and games it couldn't have gone any better."