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Van Gaal: Levy blew his chance to sign me as Tottenham manager

Louis van Gaal
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Louis van Gaal has revealed how close he came to taking over at Tottenham as manager prior to joining Manchester United.

Tottenham relieved Tim Sherwood of his duties in May 2014, just after around five months of appointing him as head coach, and went on the lookout for a new manager.

The club had a variety of options to choose from, with the most attractive one being Louis van Gaal, who at the time was approaching the end of his tenure at the Netherlands national team.

Van Gaal did take the reins of a Premier League team but instead of Spurs, it was Manchester United, who were also in search of a replacement for David Moyes.

During his two-year stint at Old Trafford, he managed to win just one trophy, the FA Cup, and was sacked in 2016.

In an interview with FourFourTwo, the Dutch tactician recently revealed that he held discussions with Daniel Levy over taking the Tottenham job, but the chairman waited too long to make an offer.

“It definitely was. Daniel Levy flew into Holland with a private jet and came to my house, where we spoke for several hours,” said Van Gaal.

“But it took Spurs a long time to make a firm offer, and United approached me in the meantime. They acted far quicker. If Spurs had come with a concrete offer earlier on, I’d have signed for them.

“Spurs were actually a club I liked when I was younger, as I was a big fan of Jimmy Greaves. I told Levy that as well, but he blew the chance by waiting so long.”

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