Head coach of the Netherlands senior national football team Louis van Gaal says he wants to join Manchester United and has described the club as “the biggest in world”.
The 62-year-old manager has been largely favoured for the Old Trafford job since the dismissal of David Moyes last month.
Asked what he knew about United, Van Gaal replied: “A stupid question I think. It’s the biggest club in the world. What do you know about Manchester United?”
“You have to ask the club, not to me. I would love the job. You have to wait and see,” he added.
Van Gaal was speaking at the start of a three-day World Cup training camp.
United could confirm his appointment mid next week.
Bayern Munich’s Pep Guardiola and Borussia Dortmund’s Jurgen Klopp have both ruled themselves out of the running for the job, while Madrid duo of Carlo Ancelotti and Diego Simeone, who are in the race for a Champions League title this season, are probably the most irreplaceable pair of tacticians in the European football coaching business.
Interim boss Ryan Giggs might have tried out several roles during his 24 seasons at the side, but his present position could as well become over demanding, due to his lack of managerial expertise.
Van Gaal insists he remains in the dark and also kept his cards close to his chest on whether Giggs or Patrick Kluivert would join him at United’s Carrington training facility.
“You (the media) are thinking I’m the man but the most important thing is whether Manchester United are thinking that,” he told Sky Sports.
“You have to wait and see what the club decides. It’s always the same – it’s always a process and you have to wait for the process, the press are always too fast.”
Referring to Kluivert, he said: “These questions I cannot answer, you know that.
“It’s a fantastic challenge and I hope that I shall be the one, but you have to wait and see.”
Holland are yet to clinch the Fifa World Cup aside reaching two finals in 1978 and 2010. The manager, who has won major tournaments in his home country, Spain and Germany, is preparing to help the Oranje consolidate on the disappointments of 2002- when they failed to reach the group stages in his first spell- and the loss to Spain in South Africa four years back.
He downplayed suggestions that speculations concerning his future could distract his team’s preparation for Brazil 2014.
“I have to focus on my job. I’m coach of the Dutch national team,” said Van Gaal. “I have waited a long time to be in a World Cup. I have tried that already in 2000. I have invested four years to be in a World Championship. That’s also very important.
“It doesn’t affect me, because I have always offers. That’s not affecting me. I know what the football world is and what it means and how I have to manage.”
