Louis van Gaal will have to answer more questions about his future at Manchester United.
It has been revealed by the Daily Mail that United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward contacted Carlo Ancelotti in November to ask about his plans for the summer.
Ancelotti, 56, was already way down the line with Bayern Munich by that point and was named as Pep Guardiola’s successor in December, with the Italian manager to take up his post at the Allianz Arena this summer.
[ MORE: Guardiola heading to the PL ]
The fact that United were reaching out to sound out potential replacements for Van Gaal before their dreadful run of eight games without a win through the end of November and the whole of December proves that there is unrest among the directors as to how LVG is performing.
With Jose Mourinho linked with the manager’s job at Old Trafford following his firing from Chelsea on Dec. 17, there was thought to be initial interest in the Portuguese boss by Woodward and his fellow directors but after a upturn in results recently Van Gaal is being supported, for now. Mourinho is said to be growing “frustrated” by United’s lack or urgency in him taking over from Van Gaal.
So, with Mourinho lurking and Ryan Giggs being groomed to become the manager of United one day, but probably sooner rather than later, will Van Gaal see out the entirety of his three-year deal at United which runs out following the 2016-17 season? Probably not.
United crashed out of the UEFA Champions League at the group stage this season, currently sit in fifth place and despite shelling out over $400 million on new players since LVG arrived 18 months ago they still look a long way off challenging the PL and European elite. On Wednesday it was also reported that they have given up on trying to entice Guardiola to Old Trafford as they believe close rivals Manchester City have already sealed the deal for the Spanish coach.
Trying to land Ancelotti makes sense. He won the UEFA Champions League at AC Milan and Real Madrid, won league titles in England, France and Italy and is regarded as one of the best coaches at managing huge egos. United missed their chance to snap up Ancelotti and they may live to regret it.
