Ajax boss Erik ten Hag has been warned against taking the Manchester United coaching role by the club’s former manager Louis van Gaal.
Ten Hag, 52, met with United bosses last week to talk about becoming their new manager and is thought to be the leading candidate to take the job on a permanent basis this summer.
Van Gaal – now in charge of the Netherlands – has now sensationally warned his fellow Dutchman against the Old Trafford role and insisted he should join a “football club” instead.
Van Gaal spent two campaigns in the United dugout between 2014 and 2016, leading them back into the top four finish in his first season and then the FA Cup crown the following season – the club’s first piece of silverware since Sir Alex Ferguson.
However, he was dismissed by United chiefs in the aftermath of that trophy to be replaced by Jose Mourinho.
He has launched another fresh attack against the management of his former club, whom he has claimed prioritise “commercial” success ahead of results on the pitch. Van Gaal has claimed that while Ten Hag would be a great appointment by United, the move may not be one that benefits the Ajax coach’s career.
“I think Erik ten Hag is a great coach, he has shown that several times'', said van Gaal, as per Dutch outlet AD. "And a great coach is always good for Manchester United." However, the Netherlands boss then went on to criticise how United were run by those above the management.
“Manchester United is a commercial club and those are difficult choices for a coach. It is better to go to a football club. I'm not going to supervise his career and he will call me himself. But he should choose a football club, not a commercial club.”
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In 2019, van Gaal gave an interview to BBC Sport in which he gave a damning assessment of United’s then Chief Executive Ed Woodward – who was in the role from 2013 until leaving this year, to hand the reins to his successor Richard Arnold, who is from a similar background.
The Dutchman believed he had been misled by Woodward and described the cup success as: "Winning a trophy despite having a noose round my neck for six months."
Appointed two years earlier, van Gaal had told United he only wanted a two-year contract so that he could fulfil his promise to his mother from his youth that he would retire from management aged 65.
However, Woodward convinced the manager to pen a three-year contract but had to dismiss him two years into that deal and meant van Gaal was entitled to the payoff.
Three years on from his sacking, the boss was still angered by the manner of his dismissal: "The Glazers [the club's owners] and Ed Woodward [executive vice-chairman] asked me. That is why I am still angry with the way they chose to do it. Ed Woodward knew Manchester United would be my last club.
"They had seven players over 30. We spoke about that at the job interview. In my first year we qualified for the Champions League. In my second we won the FA Cup."
Van Gaal is one of a number of former United employees who hit out at the outdated structure at the club and claiming that they prioritised their business model ahead of their sporting one.
He added: "At the moment there is a structure with a scouting division and above that is someone at Woodward's right hand. The structure is not so bad but the right hand has to be a technical director with a football view, not somebody with a banker's role.
"Unfortunately, we are talking about a commercial club, not a football club. I spoke to Ferguson about this and in his last years, he also had problems with it."
