Jamie Ireland
The former Bayern Munich manager is set to take the reins at Old Trafford after the World Cup in Brazil, but his new office was almost in North London, not Manchester.
Sky Sports reports that van Gaal came very close to taking over from Tim Sherwood at Tottenham, before agreeing to be the successor to David Moyes.
The Dutchman admitted that he was a Tottenham fan as a boy and idolised the club’s legendary striker Jimmy Greaves during the 60’s.
But when the offer from Manchester United came, the opportunity to add yet another of world football’s biggest clubs to his resume was far too tempting.
From a footballing standpoint I think van Gaal would have been a great fit for Tottenham, fast and exciting possession football, exactly what the fans want.
But it is the higher-ups with in the club like Chairman Daniel Levy and Technical Director Franco Baldini, who I could see van Gaal having plenty of disagreements with.
Although he will never have the power that Sir Alex Ferguson had during his time at Old Trafford, he certainly has more control at United than he would if he had joined Tottenham.
At 62, van Gaal is old school, he is a manager and he wouldn’t have enjoyed people telling him which players would be bought for him and which players should play.
That to me could have been a very messy situation waiting to happen.
