Advertisement

Van Gaal tells Ten Hag to steer clear of "commercial" Manchester United

Louis van Gaal has warned Erik Ten Hag against taking the Manchester United job.  The Ajax head ...
Richie McCormack
Richie McCormack

15.24 28 Mar 2022


Share this article


Van Gaal tells Ten Hag to stee...

Van Gaal tells Ten Hag to steer clear of "commercial" Manchester United

Sponsored by


Richie McCormack
Richie McCormack

15.24 28 Mar 2022


Share this article


Louis van Gaal has warned Erik Ten Hag against taking the Manchester United job. 

The Ajax head coach has already held talks with United chiefs over the position currently held in an interim capacity by Ralf Rangnick.

Ten Hag is believed to be one of just a number of candidates to be interviewed ahead of a summer appointment. Current Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino and Spain head coach Luis Enrique are among the other names to be linked with the Old Trafford gig.

Advertisement

One of Ten Hag's potential predecessors is currently in the middle of a third run as Netherlands head coach. Speaking ahead of Tuesday's friendly with Germany, Louis van Gaal said Ten Hag should give United short shrift.

“I think Erik ten Hag is a great coach," said the FA Cup-winning United coach, "And a great coach is always good for Manchester United. 

"But Manchester United is a commercial club. Those are difficult choices for a coach. You better go to a football club.

"I'm not going to guide his career, he can call me himself, because we sometimes have conversations with each other.

"But he should choose a football club and not a commercial club.”

Van Gaal has also played down talk of a rift between himself and Virgil van Dijk over Dutch tactics.

Asked about the 3-4-1-2 formation deployed recently by Van Gaal - including in Saturday's 4-2 win over Denmark - Van Dijk told reporters, "Do I like the system? Well, I'm still in favour of 4-3-3 but I'm not the national coach and the national coach has a very strong opinion about it."

Van Gaal initially gave a terse response after the game in Amsterdam, saying, "We already had this debate when I came here. The manager decides the tactics."

But with Van Dijk sat to his left at Monday's press conference, Van Gaal said, "I want nothing more than for them to give their opinion and add something. 

"Coaching on the field is the same, for example. That is also one of my comments, I think we should put more pressure on the ball through coaching.”

Buymie UK expansion


Share this article


Read more about

Erik Ten Hag Louis Van Gaal Manchester United Ralf Rangnick

Most Popular