Ander Herrera has only played 90 minutes in two league games since signing for Manchester United, both in September against QPR (W4-0) and Leicester City (L3-5). It's a curiously low number of matches given his 28.8 million pound signing made him the sixth most expensive player in United's history. It was also approved by new boss Louis van Gaal. All of which begs the question: Why has the midfielder whom Manchester United targeted for so long seemingly become so peripheral?

I spoke to Herrera when he had been at Manchester United for less than a month. Insisting that he speak in English, he was eloquent and quietly confident about his future role for his new club. "I'm an attacking midfielder who likes to keep the ball, maintain possession for my team and, of course, to create chances," he said after playing in United's impressive 3-1 preseason victory over Real Madrid in Michigan. "Maintain, is that right? I have a good vision but my best quality is that I always want the ball."

And his best position? "Number 8. Under coach Marcelo Bielsa at Athletic Bilbao, I played 6, 8 and 10. Bielsa said I could become one of the best players in the position. I respect his opinion."

But while Bielsa is thriving at Marseille, Herrera is seldom featuring at United. He arrived having been one of Athletic's most consistent players in a team which finished fourth last season. He scored in Athletic's 3-0 win at Rayo Vallecano, smiling in front of the 4,000 travelling Basque fans, a victory which confirmed their Champions League qualifying spot.

And then Herrera left everything he'd worked so hard to achieve. His desire to play for United was so strong that he left his city of birth and the chance to play in the Champions League for a club that failed to qualify for Europe. Still, United were still rightly considered a step up.

United and Herrera had history. After a deal to sign Cesc Fabregas fell through in August 2013, United switched to Herrera but couldn't complete the deal before the end of the transfer deadline.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward had done the groundwork and explained: "The decision to put Ander on the list [in 2013] was a very late one. We knew a lot about him because we'd been analysing him for over two years. We had a figure in our minds about what he was worth.

"I know the president at Bilbao and put a bid in," Woodward continued. "He very courteously said 'no.' I tried to work a few other angles. They're opening a new stadium and we did a deal before with [the club from which we signed] Chicharito, where we played a game in their new stadium. They said: 'Look, we appreciate your interest, but he's the most important player on our team.' Given that they can only take players from a limited Basque pool, they wanted to keep him. Once they said to us: 'Only the buy clause being met will issue a release,' we knew it wasn't going to happen. Our rating of his value wasn't the buy-out clause."

That changed a year later after Herrera's stock has increased further following another successful season in which he played 2929 league minutes in 33 of their 38 games, scored five goals and made seven assists.

Athletic, labouring in eleventh this season, really miss him.

On the day Herrera signed for United he tweeted a picture of himself with Bobby Charlton. He'd read up about United's history and was a fan of English football and culture. He settled in Manchester with his partner and their dog, eschewing a large house for a smaller apartment. And he started extremely brightly, the man of the match in his first game for the club against LA Galaxy, where he set up goals for fun in a 7-0 win in a side where he was one of just two players who played all 90 minutes.

It was only a friendly, but the mood contrasted sharply to the previous year with United's first friendly game under David Moyes, a soporific affair in Bangkok.

So when did Herrera's fortunes change? You can point to the calamitous Leicester defeat, described by Van Gaal as his worst moment at the club, was a harbinger of a more cautious United who set out first and foremost to avoid defeat. Though a rib and ankle injury didn't help, Herrera appears to have been a casualty of the shift. He's started just six of United 22 league games and not once since United's 2-1 home win to Stoke two months ago.

Herrera did play against Yeovil in the FA Cup and provided the game changing moment with a volley to give United the lead, but it's a frustrating time for the Basque midfielder. United fans have watched the largely dull football of the last two months and wondered why an exciting, fast, forward-thinking, risk-taking player such as Herrera has barely featured.

Van Gaal refuses to talk about the situation but being a fast, forward-thinking, risk-taking player isn't working in Herrera's favour when his manager wants to minimise danger. Indeed, Van Gaal said last week: "We need to play forward passes with no risk."

Herrera's putting on a brave face and remains positive, saying: "When the manager wants that I help the team, I am going to be ready." He's a good pro with a great attitude. When he's had his chances, he's done well, apart from the first half at West Brom when he was one of many mediocre performers in the starting XI. Herrera was replaced by Marouane Fellaini who scored. Fellaini has featured more since, but neither player started against Leicester City at the weekend, despite an injury to fellow midfielder Michael Carrick.

Herrera did come on as substitute in the 3-0 FA Cup win against Cambridge United on Tuesday and performed well, playing a part in James Wilson's goal by winning the ball in midfield and passing forward to the young striker, but there would be surprise if he starts in Sunday's game at West Ham.

Had Sir Alex Ferguson, the man who was first alerted to Herrera after a terrific performance at Old Trafford in a 2012 UEFA Cup match, stayed, his plan was to push United on in the 4-3-3 system favoured by Barcelona, with fast attacking midfielders and risks encouraged from the most exciting players. But Ferguson left, and Herrera doesn't appear to fit in with Van Gaal's ultra-cautious philosophy. That may change when the manager becomes more sure of his team but for now Herrera continues to lose out.

Andy Mitten is a freelance writer and the founder and editor of United We Stand. Follow him on Twitter: @AndyMitten.