David Moyes faces a logistical nightmare this summer as he plans an unprecedented overhaul of Manchester United’s under-achieving squad.

Moyes is understood to want up to eight new signings to revive the struggling Barclays Premier League champions after a disastrous season.

Rio Ferdinand will follow Nemanja Vidic and Anderson out of Old Trafford, and there are serious question marks over the futures of Patrice Evra, Robin van Persie, Shinji Kagawa, Nani and Javier Hernandez.

However, implementing such a large turnaround of players will be massively complicated by the demands of the World Cup, the increasing possibility that United could be involved in Europa League qualifiers, and the club’s pre-season tour of the USA.

United target Toni Kroos has already stated this week that he will not discuss his future at Bayern Munich until after the World Cup, and Moyes is likely to face a similar scenario with many of the other players he wants to sign.

United’s exclusion from next season’s Champions League is hardly going to be a selling point either for a manager who struggled in last summer’s transfer window when the club were in a much healthier position.

But the basic logistics of rebuilding his squad and integrating new players in time for the start of the new season could be the biggest obstacle for Moyes, who can ill-afford another slow start to the campaign as he comes under increasing pressure at Old Trafford.

The majority of United’s top players will be representing their countries in Brazil and the very earliest their World Cup can finish is June 23-26. They are unlikely to return for pre-season training until a month later, by which time Moyes and the remainder of his squad will have flown to America.

United are scheduled to play in the International Champions Cup against Roma on July 26 and Inter Milan on July 29, but have yet to confirm a third game against Real Madrid on August 2.

Even if Moyes’s side do not qualify from their group for the semi-finals and final in Miami on August 3-4, they are expected to arrange a friendly at short notice with another of the European clubs involved.

However, Manchester City’s victory in the Capital One Cup final on Sunday has freed up another Europa League place, meaning that United could find themselves having to pre-qualify for the competition in late July or early August.

It raises the question of how many of United’s top players would fly out to America and how many would be kept behind to secure the dubious honour of reaching the Europa League which – Chelsea aside – has proved to be something of a curse for Premier League clubs in recent years.

The situation is also clouded by financial and commercial issues. It is believed that United are receiving significantly more just for taking part in International Champions Cup than they would by actually winning the Europa League.

They also have obligations to US sponsors AON and an American public who are even more knowledgeable about English football than in 2004 when United sent out a shadow squad because of a Champions League qualifier against Dinamo Bucahrest and were forced to parachute in Paul Scholes and Mikael Silvestre to avoid a backlash from US fans and sponsors.

Quite how Moyes treads through the minefield this summer while building a squad capable of challenging for top honours next season and, potentially, saving his job remains to be seen.

—Daily Mail