Manchester United have sent a message to their former manager Louis van Gaal after he revealed his battle with prostate cancer.
The Dutchman was in charge at Old Trafford between 2014 and 2016, winning the FA Cup final in his last game with the club, and is now in his third spell as manager of the Netherlands national team.
Van Gaal has sadly revealed, however, that he has recently been making secret hospital visits to deal with his cancer diagnosis – something he’d been keeping from his players so as not to distract them.
As quoted by BBC Sport, LVG said: “I didn’t want to tell it to my players because it could have influenced their performances.
“In each period during my time as manager of the national team I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding it out until now. While thinking I was healthy, but.. I am not.”
Man Utd have tweeted a message of support to Van Gaal following the news…
Everybody at Manchester United is fully behind our former manager, Louis van Gaal, in his battle against cancer.
Sending you strength and courage, Louis ?? pic.twitter.com/axcB7mV5To
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) April 3, 2022
As well as having a great career in management, Van Gaal is also one of the game’s big characters, and everyone will no doubt be wishing him all the best in these difficult times.
The 70-year-old had his critics for the way his United team played in his two seasons in England, but he was always personally very popular with the fans and with his players.
Van Gaal lost his first wife, Fernanda Obbes, to cancer in the 90s, and the BBC quote him as talking about that experience in a new film about his life.
He said: “I’ve been through a lot with illnesses, including with my own wife. So that’s just part of life.
“[I] as a human being have probably become richer because of all those experiences.”