Who Is Louis Van Gaal ? Louis van Gaal has signed a two-year contract as Manchester Uniteds new manager and many are expecting him to bring back the glory days of Sir Alex Ferguson. But who is the 62-year-old? Van Gaal’s playing days were not as successful as his managerial ones. He played for the second team of Ajax Amsterdam, but was never good enough to join the first team. He moved into management as 35-year-old and, in 1991, took over his first head coach role at Ajax, with whom he would win three league titles, the UEFA Cup and the Champions League. His young squad included stars like Patrick Kluivert, Denis Bergkamp, the de Boer brothers and Clarence Seedorf. Following his success at Ajax, he moved to FC Barcelona where he won two La Liga titles and one Copa del Rey. But clashes with the media and players like Rivaldo caused him to leave the club in 2000. After a first unsuccessful spell with the Netherlands national team and failing to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, he returned to Barcelona, but couldn’t repeat the success of his first spell. He joined Dutch side AZ Alkmaar in 2005 and won the Eredivise with them before taking over at Bayern Munich in 2009. In Munich he laid the foundations for their current success, installing young players like Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos into the squad. He also turned Bastian Schweinsteiger from a winger into one of the world’s best central midfielders and won the Bundesliga title as well as the German Cup. However, he lost the 2010 Champions League final to Jose Mourinhos Inter and left the following season. In 2012, he became head coach of the Dutch national team for a second and much more successful time, leading them to a third place at the 2014 World Cup. Van Gaal seems to be better placed at Old Trafford than his predecessor, David Moyes, who was sacked in April despite being handpicked by Sir Alex Ferguson. I have been at Ajax, the biggest club in the Netherlands. I went to Barcelona, the biggest club in Spain, and then I went to Bayern, also the number one in Germany. Now I’m at Manchester United, the biggest club in England.”
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 10:45:34 +0000
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