Luca Toni has revealed that he almost came to blows with current Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal in his time with Bayern Munich. The Italian striker, who recently called time on his playing career with a winning goal for Hellas Verona against Juventus, had a famously fractious relationship with the Dutchman and revealed that it almost resulted in a physical confrontation.
Despite a fairytale farewell, Toni signed off on a sour note, noting that he had endured a similarly confrontational relationship with Gigi Delneri, his current manager, and revealed as much to Italian TV after his final game, saying “[Delneri and I] didn't get along very well, that's for sure. But it is not nice talking about it now. In any case, we cleared the air.”
The 38-year-old went on to reveal that he endured much worse under Louis van Gaal at Bayern Munich ,saying “In the past, I had much worse misunderstandings with Van Gaal when I was playing at Bayern Munich. Back then we almost came to blows.”
Luca Toni and Van Gaal have a history of confrontations
The Italian striker joined Bayern Munich from Fiorentina in 2007, and 24 goals in his first season for the Bavarians propelled them to the Bundesliga title. However, Louis van Gaal only played the Italian four times later on, resulting in Toni moving to AS Roma in the January transfer window of 2010.
Reflecting on that spell later, Toni was critical of the Manchester United boss, saying “Van Gaal simply didn't want to work with me, he treats players like interchangeable objects.”
Luca Toni infamously revealed Van Gaal’s ‘show his balls’ gesture, saying “The coach wanted to make clear to us that he can drop any player, it was all the same to him because, as he said, he had the balls. He demonstrated this literally (by dropping his trousers). I have never experienced anything like it, it was totally crazy. Luckily I didn't see a lot, because I wasn't in the front row.”
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Regarding his future, Toni does not want to go into management, saying “I have seen my former team-mates age five years every 12 months since they became coaches. I'd prefer to do something in a directorial role.”
