Louis van Gaal’s time at Manchester United was a controversial one, despite the Dutchman winning the FA Cup with the club in 2016.
Louis van Gaal was appointed as Manchester United manager in the summer of 2014, succeeding David Moyes, who had lasted less than a season before being sacked despite having a six-year contract.
Although Van Gaal was a very charismatic and interesting man, his football was anything but, with United often playing a lot of sideways and backwards passes and complaints ringing out around from the Old Trafford faithful.
The Dutchman was able to secure the club their first trophy since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2012/13 Premier League title with an FA Cup victory in 2016, but within a week, he had been sacked from his role.
He was replaced by Jose Mourinho, who went on to lift the Community Shield, EFL Cup, and Europa League trophies the following season.
Van Gaal claims United are not a football club
Van Gaal, 73, has been very vocal about his time at Old Trafford and his thoughts about United, with his most recent claim being that he believes United are still not a football club, but a club focused on commercialisation.
“It’s still a commercial club,” Van Gaal told Sky Sports. “It’s not a football club, I think. I have said that before. And that’s always difficult. When [it’s] not the manager [who] is deciding which player has to come, it’s very difficult.”
Further, Van Gaal was asked if he feels it should be the manager who picks the players that a club sign rather than having outside influence, to which he agreed, pointing to Liverpool boss Arne Slot as an example.
“I think this is the way that it should be, because then you can fire a manager because he doesn’t give any results,” the Dutchman continued, no doubt bitterly, after United sacked him shortly after winning a trophy.
“But when other persons buy the players, then you have a problem. Because you need to have the knowledge of the manager, the orientation of the manager, because he has to train them.
“So I think it shall be always like that. And Arne Slot [Liverpool manager] is the man who says to his technical manager that he has to buy this player. Pay attention to it.”
Amorim has already disproved Van Gaal’s claim
Van Gaal’s idea of how transfer targets should work is outdated – look at Erik ten Hag’s failures at United. The club signed many players at the Dutchman’s request over his two-and-a-bit seasons at Old Trafford, but many of those have been deemed surplus to requirements under Amorim.
Since Rúben Amorim’s arrival, United have undergone a significant change in transfer policy, following the Ten Hag era, where all signings now require approval from the head coach, the recruitment department, and those in charge at the club. This approach has so far yielded good results.
United’s new regime have brought in some good players in the last 12 months, with Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro, and Ayden Heaven being highlights, while there has also been a focus on young stars being secured early, such as Chido Obi and Sekou Kone.
Furthermore, the signings the club has so far targeted in the 2025 transfer window, including Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, and potentially Viktor Gyökeres, are also players who have been agreed upon in tandem between Amorim and the others at United, suggesting that Van Gaal’s system of signing players is outdated.
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