The battle for fourth place reaches a climax on Sunday but Louis van Gaal is apparently in relaxed mood. The Dutchman was on Friday talking with certainty about being at Manchester United next season and of beating Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona in the summer market.
More realistically, his job security may hinge on his team overhauling Manchester City on the Premier League’s final day to claim a Champions League berth, and that has the look of an uphill task: United must win at home to Bournemouth and hope Manchester City lose at Swansea.
With the title secured by Leicester City and the relegation places settled, the most significant top-flight question to be answered involves Manchester’s two biggest clubs battling over one prestigious and lucrative slot. A Champions League place would also help attract the best players. This week Renato Sanches joined Bayern Munich from Benfica after United considered themselves to be in pole position to sign the 18-year-old midfielder.
Not that Van Gaal believes United are behind Bayern, Real and Barça when elite footballers choose where to move. “I have read that but it is not always the truth,” he said. “It is a question of the feeling of the player and that shall always be like that. In your eyes it’s hard to attract players of a certain level but I can assure you that it is not like that, always. Sometimes it is happening like that but I cannot say the things how they are because then I interfere with the transfer policy of our club.
“But it is not like you think. It is three parties – us, the club, the player himself and then it is not always the player. The player wants to come, in general. Of course there are others who would prefer Real Madrid but there are players of Real Madrid who want to leave there or Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain it depends on a lot of circumstances.”
Regarding Sanches, Van Gaal said: “There are three parties [involved] and I only have one party under control and not three parties.”
Van Gaal, who could still end the season with a trophy should his side beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final a week on Saturday, signalled he expects to be in place next year when assessing his performance as manager. “I am always evaluating and always adapting to the situation where we stand,” he said. “It’s always the same: you have to evaluate yourself but also your staff and players, and then with that kind of people you have to communicate and listen to each other and that I’m doing. That shall be done also next season.
“And I have said I shall be here [then] – that is my opinion – so the board has to decide if it is like that. That is a different way of looking to the situation.”
Despite Leicester’s triumph, which occurred with vastly less finance than United have to invest, Van Gaal said expectations that United could claim a 21st crown this season were overblown.
“Of course you can say Manchester United need to be champions. Yes, I know the expectations are like that but I don’t think that is realistic. We are still in the race [for fourth]. You cannot say we are not. We can win the FA Cup. How many are still in the race? How many? It’s not so much. Of course when we don’t qualify ourselves we don’t reach our aim. That is true because our aim was to qualify but we are in the final of the FA Cup and we are in the race in the last match mathematically – we can qualify ourselves still. How many teams can say that? Not many.”
If Van Gaal remains in place he will enter the final year of his contract, but there is no concern that he will become a lame duck in the eyes of his players. “I have [led them] already now in very difficult circumstances – I had 14 injuries and you have sacked me for five, six, seven months,” he said, before pointing to how as Holland coach he told his squad before the 2014 World Cup that he would leave after the tournament and they finished third. “Also, I have said that to the [Dutch] federation in October. I can motivate players, that is my ability as a manager.”
While Van Gaal’s fate is unclear, Pellegrini will certainly be leaving City at the season’s end. He said he had not watched United’s midweek defeat at West Ham, where a win for the visitors would have taken them above his team.
That helping hand from Slaven Bilic’s side means City’s fate remains in their own hands and Pellegrini said there would be no urgency at Swansea to keep tabs on events at Old Trafford.
“We don’t need to know the other scores, so we won’t be thinking about anything more,” he said. “That’s why it’s important that you depend only on what you can do. We need to play well and focus on that game, nothing more. When you are depending on what other teams do, it is very difficult to focus on your game. You can make your best efforts but it doesn’t depend on what you do so that is very important in the mind of players.”
Pellegrini makes way for Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola after Sunday. “There is no bitterness,” he said.
