Wayne Rooney has revealed how Louis van Gaal spooked him out the first time they met – by sitting too close to him.
Rooney was summoned to speak to the Dutchman during Manchester United's pre-season tour of the USA after Van Gaal had been appointed manager following the 2014 World Cup.
Ryan Giggs was also in the room as the new United boss got up close and personal with the man he was about to make his captain.
Rooney recalled: “Louis said he wanted to talk to all the players individually. I was the first one.
“When I walked into the room Louis was sitting there with Giggsy.
“That was comfortable, but Louis himself was very intimidating.
“He has this massive reputation as a manager and physically he is very tall - and what made it more scary is that he sat himself incredibly close to me. And I mean, really close!
“Then he started to fire the questions at me.
“Which school I had been to, about my parents, was I religious?
“I could handle those questions, but I did find his presence so weirdly close to me very intimidating.
“Nobody in football comes this close to you like that.”
Both Rooney and Van Gaal have spoken about the two years they spent working together in a new book about the Dutchman published in Holland.
Rooney got on well with LVG – and is now using some of the methods he learned under the 68-year-old in his role as player-coach at Derby.
The former United striker said: “Louis demanded that we gave it all every day. That is not easy, as all players can have a bad day.
“If you had a bad day, he wanted to know what was wrong with you.
“What I like about him most is his honesty. Sometimes I thought he was too honest.
“I told him this one day. But this is what you get when you bring in Louis as manager.
“He was fantastic and it was fantastic to learn from him.
“The way he builds a team, how he has a role for every player, and how he makes every player aware of the role he has in the team. That was completely new to me.”
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