Manchester United Manager Louis van Gaal has had a scorching hot seat since November, but now his regime has come to an end. What did it take to finally seem him sacked, and now replaced by Jose Mourinho? The FA Cup result was irrelevant. The Dutchman couldn’t get United back into the Champions League for next year, and with a finish outside the top four, that was enough to send him packing.
Tuesday night saw Louis van Gaal says his goodbyes, for the season, to the fans at Old Trafford. The rousing speech made by LVG after United beat Bournemouth 3-1 was his way of saying thank you to the fans as he gave his goodbyes for 2015-16. It was widely booed and it now serves as his final goodbye from the club.
United didn’t sack David Moyes until it became official that they were mathematically eliminated from the top four/Champions League qualification. The Red Devils weren’t technically, officially eliminated from the top four race until the final whistle of the Premier League season, and the club decided that Van Gaal would stay until that that threshold was “reached.”
At United, top four is the absolute minimum standard and LVG couldn’t even reach that.
What’s more disappointing, beyond just the results and dull drab style is the very poor return on investment. United have spent £268 million on transfers since Van Gaal arrived, with a net spend of £164 million. Their failure to reach Champions League this season is expected to cost the club £80 million. Van Gaal’s tedious, banal style of play and hard-liner, authoritarian “philosophy” was reportedly set to have an adverse effect on player recruiting.
Louis van Gaal apparently wasn’t told that he was getting replaced by The Special One, and Ryan Giggs, an Assistant under LVG, is now set to end his 29-year-tenure at Manchester United.
It’s Mourinho in, Van Gaal and Giggs out, but what other changes are coming to Old Trafford? Mourinho is also a defensive-minded leader, also often employing a possession based ideology, but players seem to like him much better. His appointment shouldn’t have a negative impact on player acquisition.
And this is Manchester United, where they effectively print money. Even despite all the missing revenue from their upcoming absence from UEFA Champions League, MUFC are raking in the cash, and they’ll throw it around big time this summer. Let’s run through the back page headlines to see just how this regime change will impact who might be coming, who might be leaving, and who could change their mind about staying.
-Here’s a link to a list of five Players Manchester United might buy this summer.
-Here’s a link to more on how the Mourinho appointment could affect the futures of De Gea, Zlatan, Carrick, Aubameyang and more.
-The Sun
“Paris St Germain will beat Manchester United and Chelsea to the signing of Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain.
“Meanwhile, United face competition from Barcelona for Paris St-Germain defender Marquinhos.”
-Daily Express
“Paris St-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 34, will join Manchester United this summer as assistant manager to Jose Mourinho.”
“Meanwhile, United will miss out on Benfica winger Nicolas Gaitan, 28, who will instead join Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid.”
-The Guardian: “Jose Mourinho has identified André Gomes, João Mário, John Stones, Álvaro Morata, Mauro Icardi and Ezequiel Garay as summer targets as part of an anticipated minimum £150m Old Trafford spending spree.”
-The Telegraph: “Jose Mourinho is expected to make Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic one of his first signings as Manchester United manager.”
-The Independent
“Michael Carrick has yet to discover whether he will be handed a new contract at Manchester United after making what could be his final appearance for the club in the FA Cup Final.”
-The Times
“Spanish midfielder Juan Mata will consider his future at Manchester United if Jose Mourinho is appointed as manager.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram