Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal is expecting Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain to provide a good examination of his team ahead of the new season.

Van Gaal thinks his side will have the chance to test how well they have progressed as a team with their games against PSG and treble winners Barca - although the Dutchman insisted pre-season fixtures were not everything.

"We shall play with certain players for 60 minutes and 30 minutes [in those games]," he told Bleacher Report.

"It will be good to see how we stand then in level against those kinds of clubs.

"But it says nothing about that too. You saw that last year. We won everything with big figures, good results and effective football.

"But for me, the most important match is the first match of the Premier League."

When then asked about facing his former side Barcelona, Van Gaal replied: "It's nice to see friends of your period in that [team] but maybe there are a lot of other players.

"I have to say that Barcelona play still with players that I coached. So that's nice to see.

"But there are also a lot of the staff there. It will be nice to see them again."