Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal says it was hard for him to let midfielder Darren Fletcher leave the club, but claims he is happy that the West Bromwich Albion captain has moved on successfully.
United are away against West Brom on Sunday and Fletcher has said that the home team will look to use their experience against an "inexperienced" visiting team -- and make the game "physical."
Fletcher, 32, and Jonny Evans, 28, were both let go by Van Gaal and joined West Brom during 2015, with the midfielder having played 342 games for United and the defender having featured 198 times for the club.
Both struggled for game time under Van Gaal and are part of a group of former United players at West Brom which includes Ben Foster and James Chester. However Evans is due to miss the game against his old club with a hamstring injury.
Van Gaal told MUTV: "Jonny is a big loss for every team. I'm very sorry that he cannot play. I'd like to see him again and I'll also see my ex-captain Darren Fletcher.
"I'm happy that Darren is playing so often, because that was our aim also when we spoke about his departure. It's not always easy to say things to the players about it being better for them to go, but when you see players like Jonny and Darren playing so regularly, it's good for players. I'm very happy for them."
Fletcher, though, is ready to capitalise on United's lack of experience. He said: "They're inexperienced and coming to The Hawthorns we need to make it a really difficult game for them. We have to use our experience and we are one of the most experienced teams in the Premier League.
"Sometimes it has to be a battle with a lot of physical strong men and we have to exploit weaknesses in them."
Discussing United's young players and the state of the club, the Scotland captain said: "[Marcus] Rashford's name rang out when I was there, but he was very young. Injuries and things have played a part and he has got his chance.
"All the kids have stepped in and done fantastically for United. Their season looks to have turned around a little bit and they are still battling for top-four and getting in the Champions League where they belong.
"A team like Manchester United should be challenging for the title but the bare minimum is Champions League qualification and they will be doing everything they can to achieve it."