Manchester United news: 'Van Gaal tactically the best manager,' says Rooney as he chooses LVG over Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United Training And Press Conference
Manchester United Training And Press Conference

What's the story?

Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney has revealed the one quality because of which Louis Van Gaal was the best manager he ever had the honour to work with in his career, in an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.

Rooney, who now plays for MLS outfit DC United said that tactically speaking, the Dutch manager will remain the best he ever worked with, snubbing Sir Alex Ferguson in the process.

The former England international is one of the most decorated players of the Premier League era and enjoyed the most successful spell of his career with the Red Devils under Ferguson.

In case you didn't know...

The 33-year-old striker became only the second player in PL history to score 200 or more goals in the competition with United and Everton.

Though he has 208 goals to his name, he remains one of the greatest strikers of the PL era to never have won the Golden Boot award.

Louis van Gaal, who managed United for two seasons between 2014 and 2016, announced his retirement from football permanently earlier this month, bringing an end to an illustrious managerial career, that included spells at clubs like Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

The heart of the matter

Rooney seems to be enjoying his life in the US with his new club, having joined them mid-season last year. He has started the new season with a bang, being the hat-trick hero in a 5-0 rout of Real Salt Lake in a league fixture last week.

The five-time PL winner spoke on talkSPORT to Drivetime hosts Adrian Durham and Darren Gough yesterday and said that LVG was a technically gifted manager and the best he ever worked with. He said:

“He was tactically the best I have worked with – in terms of setting you up in a shape defensively and everyone knowing their roles."
“[Under him]It was just about getting the attacking side right as well as the defensive side."

Though he didn't mention Sir Alex Ferguson in the interview, this statement seems like an apparent snubbing of the Scot who is considered among the greatest managers of all-time in the history of professional football.

What's next?

Manchester United are being led by a former pupil of Ferguson in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for now. We will have to see if the Baby Faced Assassin gets the job next season or not.

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Edited by Vikshith R