Louis van Gaal passed on advice to Dutch legend Ronald de Boer about joining Rangersplaceholder image
Louis van Gaal passed on advice to Dutch legend Ronald de Boer about joining Rangers | Getty Images
Louis van Gaal has never been one to shy away from the cameras and his latest appearance has brought good news.
It’s been nearly 10 years since Louis van Gaal left his post as Manchester United manager and little has changed.
Thankfully though, the health of the former Red Devils boss has with the news that the imposing figure of the Dutchman is cancer free after receiving treatment for years including during his time in charge of the Netherlands.
Louis van Gaal confirms he is free of cancer
As both a pundit and as a manager, Van Gaal has never been one to hold his opinion and on Dutch talk show Humberto, via Reuters, the 73-year old was in good spirits: "Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that's going well. I'm getting fitter and fitter.”
Van Gaal confirmed specifically that he is “no longer bothered” by cancer.
A return to management is unlikely, although, it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see the current Ajax advisor back involved in a more front-line role. His last job was with his country having narrowly lost out to eventual World Cup winners Argentina in the quarter-finals in a penalty shoot-out.
Little did the squad know that Van Gaal was already undergoing treatment for prostate cancer: “In each period during my time as manager of the national team I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding it out until now.”
What Louis van Gaal said about Man Utd’s current problems
Van Gaal has been critical of United when he was manager, and has been equally as scathing after leaving. In particular, he didn’t believe compatriot Erik ten Hag was the right person for the club and that he should have turned the offer of taking the top job down, per Sky Sports: "Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United," said Van Gaal, when he was in charge of the Netherlands.
"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.” Three years later and it is a statement that still rings true. United haven’t changed and are being run like a business, not with the priority being the product on the pitch, the standards on the pitch and what fans are paying a lot of money to watch week, after week.
The current transfer window is the perfect example of what is wrong at United. Compare and contrast the transfer business of bitter rivals Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal and they are picking up the players that they need without messing about.
If they haven’t been able to sign their first pick, they have simply moved onto the next target. Meanwhile, United have been negotiating with Brentford over Bryan Mbeumo for nearly six-weeks. At what point do they decide that their time is being wasted and move to another target, if they have other options lined-up that is?
One thing is for certain, Louis van Gaal wouldn’t tolerate such indecision.
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