Manchester United: Former manager Louis van Gaal warns Ajax manager Erik ten Hag not to go to Old Trafford | Football news

Louis van Gaal has warned Manchester United to target Erik ten Hag upon his move to Old Trafford, saying he “must choose a football club and not a commercial club.”

The Ajax boss is one of the favorites to be appointed United manager but Van Gaal – who spent two seasons in charge of United and lifted the FA Cup in 2016 – says that his countryman he has a “difficult choice” about whether to go to Manchester.

“Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United,” said Van Gaal, who now leads the Netherlands national team. “But Manchester United is an advertisement club, so it’s a tough choice for a coach. He’d better go to a football club.

“I won’t advise him, he will call me himself. But he has to choose a football club and not a commercial club.”

United want a permanent appointment before the summer and plan to speak to a number of candidates, with Ten Hag understood to have met the Premier League club as part of that process last week.

Current former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino, Spain manager Luis Enrique and Sevilla head coach Julen Lopetegui have also been linked with the vacancies.

United – who face Leicester directly Sports sky on Saturday – currently in the fight for a place in the Champions League, ranked sixth in the Premier League, four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have one match left.

Among the Premier League clubs, the newest one Deloitte Money League puts United second in terms of total revenue in 2021, behind only local rivals Manchester City.

However, the executive vice president is about to leave Ed Woodward affirms “The first priority is success on the pitch” as he spoke in November 2021.

Saturday, April 2 5:00 pm

Starts 5:30pm

LVG squad to face Van Dijk

Van Gaal was also adamant this week when he rejected suggestions his defender Virgil van Dijk would prefer to play in a different squad.

The Netherlands lined up on a 3-4-1-2 system for a 4-2 win over Denmark on Saturday. Liverpool defender Van Dijk later said: “Of course, we are playing in a new system, different things are required in the players. But I think we showed a lot of good things. .

“Do I like the system? Well, I still support the 4-3-3 formation but I’m not the national team coach and the national team head coach has a very strict view of it.”

Van Gaal, who became the Netherlands coach for the third time in August and helped them qualify for Qatar 2022, said: “I know he has that taste, he always says this. publicly.

“We had this debate when I got here. The manager decides the tactics.”