Well.
It’s amusing how, in the near two years since Manchester United dismissed him, Louis van Gaal has remained a dissenting voice in the background. The Dutchman was removed from his post as United manager hours after guiding the club to FA Cup success in May 2016. It was United’s first piece of silverware since Alex Ferguson retired in 2013, but the axe was swung on van Gaal’s head after a prolonged period of desperately dull football.
He was replaced by Jose Mourinho and, while the Portuguese coach has undoubtedly improved the team since, he too has attracted widespread criticism for failing to bring a sense of entertainment back to Old Trafford.
Van Gaal has been a characteristically blunt soundtrack at semi-regular intervals throughout Mourinho’s reign. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss had no problem expressing his bitterness at the manner in which he departed United, saying he felt betrayed while slamming the way the club’s hierarchy handled the situation.
ON THIS DAY: In 2016, Louis Van Gaal dramatically threw himself on the floor at Old Trafford.
10/10. 👏 pic.twitter.com/Im13MecdlW
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 28, 2018
Now, he’s taking aim at his successor. In a new interview with German newspaper Sport Bild, van Gaal has criticised Mourinho’s treatment of Bastian Schweinsteiger. The former Germany international was signed by van Gaal in July 2015 but problems with fitness and form prevented him from making a significant impression in the Premier League.
And while van Gaal, who also coached Schweinsteiger at Bayern, has admitted the player wasn’t the midfield force of nature he used to be when United got him, he has criticised the way in which Mourinho froze him out of the first-team.
“Schweinsteiger was older, of course, but not too old,” van Gaal said.
“Still, his body was not able to keep up with the high demands of Premier League. Bayern sold him to us as fit player, but, in reality, physically he had reached the end.
“How Mourinho treated him after me, Schweini did not deserve this. But it also explains how things were with Schweinsteiger. It’s a shame because he is a player like Luis Enrique, Mark van Bommel or Philipp Lahm, a character always present on the pitch.”
Van Gaal still had time during the interview for another dig at United, criticising them for being a ‘commercial club.’ Of course, United were a business juggernaut long before van Gaal arrived so a man of his assiduity would surely have been aware of that. Plus, whether van Gaal accepts it or not, football is a business as well as a sport. That’s just the way it is and, in business, you have to make money to survive. United just happen to be better at it than most.
“Of course [I still love Bayern]. Manchester United who I last coached is a commercial club. Totally different to Bayern. The bosses, former players like Karl Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness are former players who know what they are talking about.
“Football is the most important thing, not money like it is now at United. That’s why I love Bayern.”
