Who do we want to replace Moyes?

Nedved wrote:I don't think Pep is the right man for Man U at the moment. Van Gaal knows how to build the team. His organisation will go a long away. But I am not sure why you guys are delaying the announcement. It will be difficult to sign players if u leave things too late.

Way clear for Manchester United to make Louis Van Gaal their manager

Giggs future likely to be only stumbling block

Louis van Gaal, the Holland coach, is expected to be confirmed as the new manager of Manchester United within the next week.

With United’s faint hopes of enticing Carlo Ancelotti to Old Trafford dealt a blow after the former Chelsea manager masterminded Real Madrid’s march to the Champions League final against Bayern Munich on Tuesday, the way has been cleared for Van Gaal to succeed David Moyes.

United have the framework of a deal in place with Van Gaal, who is thought to be hopeful that an agreement will be announced before he begins a ten-day training camp with the Holland squad in Hoenderloo on Wednesday.

Van Gaal, 62, would be unable formally to start work until Holland’s World Cup campaign has concluded, which would be more than ten weeks away if the Oranje reach the final in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.

Nonetheless, the Dutchman is believed to have drawn up a detailed list of summer transfer targets and is expected to present this to the United hierarchy early next week. Mats Hummels and Marco Reus, the Borussia Dortmund centre half and midfielder respectively, and Toni Kroos, the Bayern Munich midfielder, are in his sights.

The only foreseeable stumbling block that might delay Van Gaal’s appointment would involve Ryan Giggs’s role in the new regime.

Giggs was placed in temporary charge in the wake of Moyes’s sacking on Tuesday last week and the interim United manager — who had hoped to be considered for the job on a permanent basis — may be unwilling to accept a token position under Van Gaal if it came to that.

Senior United officials have indicated privately that they would be reluctant to force anyone on to the new man at the helm, but with Giggs viewed as a future United manager, it seems inconceivable that they would allow a situation to arise whereby the 40-year-old ended up severing his ties with the club with whom he has spent his entire career.

Giggs, who has yet to decide whether he will carry on playing for another season, is thought to be in the dark over the situation, although it would be a surprise if Van Gaal was not willing to consider the Welshman as his No 2.

Frans Hoek, the Holland goalkeeping coach, has informed Van Gaal that he will decide in the next 48 hours whether to join him at Old Trafford or remain with the national team.

Patrick Kluivert, the former Barcelona striker and Van Gaal’s assistant with Holland, has expressed a desire to join his compatriot at United and the name of Jaap Stam, the former United defender who is assistant coach at Ajax, is also thought to have been floated.

Van Gaal is expected to encourage the club to continue their pursuit of Kroos and Reus, with strong indications that the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has been looking predominantly at the German market, where Moyes focused much of his attention.

With Nemanja Vidic, the United captain, joining Inter Milan at the end of the season, Rio Ferdinand, his fellow defender, facing an uncertain future and the champions likely to lose out to Manchester City for Eliaquim Mangala, the Porto centre back, Hummels is a fresh target identified by Van Gaal.

Prising Hummels and Reus — both of whom have three years left on their contracts — would be a considerable feat, especially as the German club have already agreed to sell Robert Lewandowski, the forward, to Bayern this summer. Luke Shaw, the Southampton left back, William Carvalho, the Sporting Lisbon midfielder, and Edinson Cavani, the Paris Saint-Germain forward, were other targets United were chasing under Moyes.

Van Gaal’s appointment as manager is now a formality, it being a case of when, rather than if, the Holland coach is confirmed. The 62-year-old may even be at Old Trafford for Tuesday’s game against Hull City

I have achieved more with Ajax in six years than Barcelona has in one hundred years.
(In 1997 after becoming coach of Barcelona.)

If you want to, go ahead.

(After a reporter asked Van Gaal whether he wanted to congratulate his former friend Ronald Koeman with winning the Eredivisie with PSV.)

"I told the board we would celebrate winning every title. I'm a party animal."
On victory celebrations with Bayern

"When players come up to me and say how great it is to work with me, that's more important to me than any paycheck."
How he prefers recognition to money

"Running is for animals. You need a brain and a ball for football."
On his basic approach to the game

Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal says he wants to join Manchester United who he described as "the biggest club in the world" #mufc

British reporter asks if Van Gaal knows much about Man Utd [culture and history]: "That is a very stupid question. What do you think?" [nos]

Ryan Giggs to discuss Man Utd role with Louis van Gaal

Ryan Giggs will meet with Louis van Gaal in the Netherlands on Wednesday as Manchester United move towards finalising their new management team.

Dutch national coach Van Gaal, 62, is set to be appointed as United boss and will speak to Giggs about a potential coaching position at Old Trafford.

Welshman Giggs, 40, ended the campaign as United's interim manager following the dismissal of David Moyes in April.

Giggs had said he was unsure whether he would carry on playing next season.

Van Gaal is currently overseeing the Netherlands' World Cup preparations at their training camp in Hoenderloo with Wednesday a designated rest day for the squad.

Giggs and United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward will go to the Netherlands for the talks, with the club keen to end their search for a replacement for Moyes.

A number of the staff who worked under both Moyes and Giggs during his four-match spell in charge, including Phil Neville, Chris Woods, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt, are likely to leave the club.

United, who are due to release their third-quarter financial results on Thursday, finished seventh in the Premier League and will not be playing in European competition next season.

Busby Babe wrote: