Van Gaal hints at possibility of coaching Netherlands

Veteran coach Louis van Gaal said he does not rule out the possibility of returning to manage the Dutch national football team amid speculation over who will succeed Ronald Koeman.

Van Gaal, who will turn 75 next Saturday, has managed the Dutch national team three times, leading them to the 2014 World Cup final. He returned to the role in 2022, guiding the team to the quarter-finals in Qatar.

He has not held a permanent position since then, having overcome cancer and served as an advisor to the board of Ajax Amsterdam.

In an interview with the Dutch magazine Football International, Van Gaal said, “I always want to help the Royal Dutch Football Association, just as I wanted to do with Ajax. With a squad like this, there is potential, and I believe the Netherlands is still capable of winning the European Championship or the World Cup, because 95 percent of the players play abroad, most of them in good clubs.”

However, Van Gaal stated that there had been no contact with the Royal Dutch Football Association, and expressed surprise at the limited interest from coaches in taking on the national team job. Reports indicated that former Liverpool manager Arne Slot declined the position last week, as did Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag.

Koeman resigned as national team manager after the Netherlands’ loss to Morocco in the Round of 32 of this year’s World Cup.

Dutch media reported that Nigel de Jong, the Royal Dutch Football Association’s director and head of the process to select the new manager, held intensive talks last Sunday with Michael Reiziger, the former Barcelona and AC Milan defender who currently manages the Netherlands U21 national team.