Criticism has been rife of Louis van Gaal's decision to loan out young English striker James Wilson to Brighton & Hove Albion. Yet former-Manchester United captain Gary Neville says the Reds boss made the correct decision.

Wilson has been consistently out-of-favour this season, playing around sixty minutes after 22 games of the season. The 20-year-old scored twice on his debut during Ryan Giggs' short spell as interim manager and continued to play for the first team in the following season.

Neville thinks Wilson loan move is good

Despite obvious, and worrying, goalscoring issues, Van Gaal has decided to let Wilson leave until the end of the season to join Chris Hughton's Brighton.

Neville took to social media to say he backed the decision, tweeting: "People shocked at James Wilson leaving on loan. Why? He hasn't played and is a lad who needs to play all the time at his age. Better for him and for Manchester United."

"A lot of young lads end up aged 22 with only 50 games under their belt through waiting in the wings. Get them playing and learning."

Wilson got no chances from Van Gaal this season

Neville's points are true. Not only has Wilson got no first-team football, under-21 games have been very limited this season for United, with just six games since August. In fact, the reason he did not get a chance, despite injuries to Wayne Rooney and Anthony Martial against Watford, is because of his match fitness.

Wilson needs to kick on and prove himself at Brighton now. He had a great start to his United career, and with the platform now given to him, he can make sure it really is a career, not a short stint. 

A Twitter poll run by Football League VAVEL saw 91% of people vote that Wilson's loan move would be a 'hit' not a 'miss'.

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About the author
Harry Robinson
Deputy Editor-in-Chief at VAVEL UK, and Manchester United Editor.