Louis Van Gaal and Manchester United seemed like they would be a perfect fit. A man with a massive ego, brimming with self-confidence, arrogant and stubborn. He was expected to bring the glory days back. However, with such a strong personality, there is bound to be a clash of heads, and with Van Gaal it’s been no different.
Most recently, LVG has had a falling out with Victor Valdes. Valdes suffered from injury after leaving Barcelona and was without a club. He was invited by Van Gaal to train with United to get his fitness back. In January 2014, United offered Valdes an 18-month contract which he accepted with an option to extend. With David De Gea in the form of his life, Valdes was always going to be number two. He was subjected to play reserve games with the U21’s to maintain fitness. On 17th May, he got a chance to make his United debut against Arsenal after De Gea came off injured and things looked good for Valdes.
However, come the start of the new season, Valdes was not picked in the pre-season tour squad and LVG’s treatment of the Spanish keeper has been very poor. Van Gaal lashed out at Valdes for not following his philosophy and said he refused to play reserve games. Valdes was baffled by this and replied on social media by posting a picture of the reserve games he featured in. When Valdes returned to Old Trafford, he found his things had been taken out of the dressing room and moved to the U21 locker room. We don’t know what happened behind closed doors, but Louis Van Gaal’s treatment of Valdes has been ridiculous and excessively harsh.
Most people were expecting to see Valdes leave the club especially after Romero was signed on a free transfer. However, Valdes has stayed with the club. He has been left out of the Champions League squad though he has been included in the Premier League squad. With De Gea’s transfer to Real Madrid falling through, Valdes seems to be the fourth choice behind Romero, Johnstone and De Gea.
This is not the first time that LVG has fallen out with his players.
In 1999, LVG had a falling out with Rivaldo, the Brazilian legend. Rivaldo had had a great first two seasons with Barcelona, winning two La liga titles, the Copa Del Rey and even the Ballon d’Or. Rivaldo thought his best position was behind the two strikers, but LVG insisted he play on the left. When Rivaldo suggested that he play behind the two strikers, he was benched. His goal tally at the end of the season was down from 24 to 12. Barca ended up losing the title and Van Gaal was sacked. When he returned for his second spell in 2002, he released Rivaldo from his contract. While leaving for AC Milan, Rivaldo said, “Van Gaal is the main cause of my departure. I don’t like Van Gaal, and I am sure that he doesn’t like me, either.” To this Van Gaal retorted that he was being released for his lack of professionalism.
Van Gaal took over at Bayern Munich on July 1st, 2009 where his fellow countryman Mark Van Bommel was captain. Van Bommel was a crucial player as Bayern went on to win the double that season. Van Gaal wanted to add youth to his squad the following season and he told Mark that he would have to fight for his place against the likes of Anatoliy Tymoshchuck and Danijel Pranjic. This made him furious. Luiz Gustavo, 10 years younger than Van Bommel was signed as his direct competition in January. On 25th January 2011, Van Bommel terminated his contract by mutual consent and joined AC Milan on a six-month contract.
Van Bommel wasn’t the only man to fall out with LVG at Munich. Luca Toni was highly successful during his first two seasons. However, Van Gaal was not happy with his conduct during meetings and meals. He even pulled up Toni by the ears for slouching during a meal. In 2009, Toni suffered an Achilles tendon injury and was forced to play for Bayern II as part of his recovery. Things went from bad to worse when Toni was fined in November, 2009 for leaving the stadium at half-time. He was eventually loaned out to Roma and didn’t return.
RVP might have been a favourite for Van Gaal during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but it wasn’t always like that. Van Gaal took over the Netherlands job after a dismal EURO 2012 and held a team meeting. He wasn’t happy when Van Persie refused to criticize any of the players and staff for their poor campaign. He was left on the bench, but that didn’t stop him from praising the gaffer. LVG was impressed by his professional attitude and made him captain of the side.
Seeing his history, it’s no surprise quite a few players have left Manchester United without thanking LVG. Rafael was quoted as saying that the Dutchman did not like him and even went on to say that he doesn’t like Brazilians in general. The mass exodus continued in the present transfer window with only 9 players remaining now from Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2012/13 title-winning squad.
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