Van Gaal may be free but World Cup makes him wrong for Man Utd
Published:There are many plus points to naming Louis van Gaal as the next permanent Manchester United manager, not least that he would be compensation-free after the World Cup when stepping down as manager of the Dutch national team.
However, there are reasons that may not have been considered as to why this is far from an ideal situation for the Red Devils, even though Van Gaal is the 4/6 favourite to be appointed David Moyes’ successor.
Should Holland reach the World Cup final, Van Gaal will be in work until July 13th, which will obviously rob him of much of the pre-season in the Man Utd dugout.
As things currently stand, Man Utd are due to embark on a first pre-season tour to the US since 2011 in early August, with a fixture against Real Madrid already in their calendar.
Furthermore, should the club finish sixth in the Premier League this season, this will see them entered for the third qualifying round of the Europa League, where first legs are set to be played on July 31st.
In either circumstance, Van Gaal wouldn’t be afforded much time to get to watch his current squad train, partake in friendlies or assess where his squad most needs addressing.
One of Moyes’ first problems was getting some new faces in early to bed in with current players and it is fair to say that Marouane Fellaini became a panic buy on deadline day.
This is unlike Manchester City, where Manuel Pellegrini had already completed the signings of Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic by mid-July.
What Man Utd don’t need is Moyes’ replacement also dawdling and missing out on some early-moving big names in the transfer market, but the risk of this happening is far greater with Van Gaal than other prospective managers.
Appointing Carlo Ancelotti (5/1), Jose Mourinho (10/1) or Jurgen Klopp (14/1) at the end of the season may cost Man Utd in compensation, but would theoretically be a price worth paying to set them up for the 2014/15 campaign.
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