Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United send a touching message to former manager Louis van Gaal after prostate cancer diagnosis
Taking to Twitter, Manchester United sent a touching message to their former manager Louis van Gaal, who revealed that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and has been battling the condition over the past few months.
The Dutchman was in charge of the side from 2014 to 2016, where he won a FA Cup during his final season with the club. He was sacked soon after winning the trophy and the Red Devils brought in Jose Mourinho as his successor.
The Manchester side had roped Van Gaal in from the Holland national team, where he led his country to a third-place finish in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He would unite with his colleague Robin van Persie at Old Trafford, while he also recruited defender Daley Blind and Memphis Depay to the squad from his homeland.
He was popular with the supporters as well, who readily chanted and cheered for ‘Louis van Gaal’s Red Army’ while he was in charge of the club. Unfortunately for him, he did not last too long at the Theatre of Dreams after failing to finish higher than fourth place and winning other major honours.
“I thought they shouldn’t know”
The 70-year-old announced on Sunday evening that he had been having treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, following which the footballing world, including Man United and his former clubs, sent him messages of support in his recovery.
van Gaal said that he did not think other people he worked with should know about his condition because it might influence their decisions, while admitting that he had an aggressive form of cancer that needed a lot of management in order to get through safely.
I think you don’t tell people you work with like that because it might influence their choices, their decisiveness, so I thought they shouldn’t know. You don’t die from prostate cancer, at least not in 90 per cent of the cases. It is usually other underlying diseases that kill you. But I had a pretty aggressive form, got irradiated 25 times. Then you have a lot of management to do in order to get through life.”
Apart from his FA Cup win, he was also credited for bringing in and developing players from the youth team, never fearing from giving the starlets their chance to shine. Under him, current stars like Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard thrived at the club, having come through the halls at Carrington.
He also had an eye for good youth players, bringing in Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial, who went on to become established first-team stars in later years for the Red Devils. While Shaw still remains at the club, Martial is out on loan at Sevilla, after seeing his minutes for the senior side deplete this season.
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Currently, van Gaal is in charge of the Netherlands football team, picking up the reins once again for his country as he prepares to lead them into the World Cup in Qatar. It remains to be seen if his condition allows him to manage them later this year, or whether his announcement of his fight against prostate cancer has an effect on his current role.
We can only wish the former manager the best and pray for his long battle against the disease, hoping that he comes out stronger. To this day, he still remains the only manager aside from his successor Mourinho to have won silverware for United since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
