Van Gaal warns Ten Hag that United “is not a football club, it is a commercial club”

AMSTERDAM (NETHERLANDS), 28 Mar. (STATS Perform / dpa / ep) –

The soccer coach of the Netherlands, Louis van Gaal, warned his compatriot and current Ajax coach, Erik ten Hag, on Monday to rule out taking over the bench at English Manchester United next summer for being “a commercial club”.

“I think Ten Hag is a great manager – I’ve said that several times already – and a great manager is good for Manchester United, but Manchester United is a commercial club. Those are tough choices for a manager, but as a manager, you should prefer a football club,” said Van Gaal at a press conference prior to Tuesday’s friendly against Germany.

The one who was coach of the ‘Red Devils’ between 2014 and 2016 wanted to give this advice to Ten Hag, who is one of the possible candidates to take over the bench of the English team, currently occupied on an interim basis by the German Ralf Rangnick, who He will leave this position at the end of this season to take up a position in the club’s sports management.

Van Gaal was outspokenly critical of United’s business activities during his time with the club, lamenting the physical effects on the squad of a pre-season tour during his first summer as manager in 2014.