As reported by The Athletic, Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal has warned Erik ten Hag against joining Manchester United. He said that the manager should choose a “football club and not a commercial club.”
Ten Hag is one of the leading candidates to become Manchester United’s permanent manager this summer, and he has been interviewed for the position.
Other names on the Old Trafford shortlist are Mauricio Pochettino, Luis Enrique, and Julen Lopetegui, with club directors Darren Fletcher and John Murtough, playing a role in picking his replacement.
However, Van Gaal, who led Manchester United from 2014 to 2016, does not believe Erik ten Hag would be a good match for the Premier League team.
Van Gaal, who is now the manager of the Dutch national team, stated that taking the United position would not be in Ten Hag’s best interests.
He said:
“Erik ten Hag is a great coach, and that is always good for Manchester United. But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it’s a difficult choice for a coach. He’d better go to a football club. I’m not going to advise him, he’ll call me himself. But he must choose a football club and not a commercial club.”
Manchester United under Louis van Gaal won the FA Cup but that was the lone trophy for them under his two year reign. But those two years were filled with a lot of drama as his style of play didn’t suit many of the first team players.
The club’s management are looking for a world-class manager but have not yet decided their ultimate signing. With Louis van Gaal labelling the club as a commercial one, maybe he is also talking about how the club has been unable to bring in any quality players and being unable to focus on the quality of football.
That is one major point that has been lacking throughout the post-Ferguson era. Nor was Van Gaal able to bring any major improvement, even after he had so many top class players under his belt.
Erik ten Hag is a type of manager who focuses much on quality of football being played on the pitch. Changing managers will make sense but it will not bring in any overnight change at the club.
The ugly truth is that we have many players who are not performing at their best level and the club needs new signings this summer. If we fail to do so, we will again return empty handed next year with this team at our disposal.
Even, Erik ten Hag will fail to change the fortunes if the club continues to ignore the weaker aspects of their game.
