Has Januzaj's Borussia Dortmund gamble paid off?

As Manchester United’s injury list has grown over the past 10 days, supporters have perhaps naturally looked at the club’s current resources and begun to question moves made in the summer which have left Louis van Gaal short on numbers.

While the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger, Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin were brought in for substantial fees, a swathe of players were shipped out – including a string of Old Trafford fan favourites.

Robin van Persie, Javier Hernandez, Rafael, Nani, Jonny Evans and youngster Angelo Henriquez were all sold, while the Angel di Maria saga ended with an inevitable exit to Paris Saint-Germain. But one move which raised eyebrows for many fans was the loan of Adnan Januzaj to Borussia Dortmund.

Having broken into the United side during the ill-fated reign of David Moyes, Januzaj found it more difficult to convince Van Gaal of his qualities in 2014-15 and snapped up the chance to test himself in Germany when Dortmund came calling.

It was originally suggested that the Dutch manager had shunned Januzaj, but Van Gaal insisted in recent days that it was the 20-year-old’s choice to leave.

“He has to compete with higher-level players. I want him to play all the matches, and that's why I wanted to play him in the Premier League, but he chose Borussia Dortmund,” revealed Van Gaal.

Januzaj had seemingly backed his ability to earn more game time at Signal Iduna Park than he had managed under Van Gaal at United, but in practice it appears his gamble has not paid off.

In three months with Dortmund, Januzaj had made only two starts - both in the Europa League – and his longest appearance in the Bundesliga came when entering for the final 37 minutes of the 5-1 battering at Bayern Munich.

The issue for the youngster is that not only has he struggled to come to terms with the new surroundings, but BVB’s other forward players have been in excellent form for the most part. Marco Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Shinji Kagawa and Gonzalo Castro have all shone at various times during Thomas Tuchel’s first season in charge, leaving the coach with little option but to stick with his in-form men.

Januzaj’s difficulties came to a head recently when, seemingly upset at not gaining a full national call-up, he snubbed a chance to play for Enzo Scifo’s Belgium Under-21 side.

Senior national boss Marc Wilmots explained: “He didn't exactly refuse, but we were not under the impression that he wanted to play for the Under-21 side no matter what. If that's the case, it's better to not come.”

Scifo later added: “A phone call like that is a present and not a punishment," Scifo said. "Adnan Januzaj has a bad mentality.”