Rummenigge praises Guardiola but says it’s van Gaal’s legacy.
Bayern Munich chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has heaped praise on Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal stating the Dutchman is to thank for Pep Guardiola’s success.
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Guardiola took charge at the Allianz Arena in the summer of 2013, leading them to the Bundesliga title with a record seven games to spare last season and currently tops the German top tier once again this time around.
The former FC Barcelona ace succeeded Jupp Heynckes at Bayern, but Rummenigge says it was van Gaal before that built the foundations for the success the German club are now enjoying.
“If you see our ball possession today, I would say the first steps were the benefits from Louis van Gaal,” the former Germany international was quoted by the Times.
“We hired him to bring a new philosophy and I believe – I still believe – that from the technical and tactical point of view, he’s a very good coach.
“He changed the system here and I’m convinced he will do it as well at Manchester United.
“My colleague Ed Woodward [the United executive vice-chairman] asked me in the summer, ‘What’s Louis about?’ I told him: ‘First of all, you get a very good coach. Second, you have to be prepared that some difficult things can happen. Third, you have to be patient because he needs time to change from the old to the new.’ It was always called the Van Gaal system.”
Rummenigge did also go onto call Guardiola a ‘genius’ however, clearly not wanting to take anything away from what the Spaniard has achieved, but it will be music to the ears of United fans to hear the comments about van Gaal.