Louis van Gaal tears up the script at Manchester United news conference
Friday 14 August 2015 08:59, UK
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal sprang a few surprises in his pre-match news conference, including an impromptu - and revealing - one-to-one with a reporter. Sky Sports News HQ's James Cooper was there.
Last week, the headline was 'De Gea Won't Play'. This week, it changed to 'De Gea doesn't want to play'.
Taking the press pack at Carrington completely by surprise, Van Gaal extended his news conference by providing one journalist with a cosy chat in front of his peers - one which gave us a fresh glimpse into the ongoing goalkeeper saga at Old Trafford.
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The journalist, who does not usually cover United news conferences, had already had a dialogue with Van Gaal about De Gea's continued absence from his squad, in the newspaper segment of the news conference.
"Does David De Gea want to play?"
LVG: "I have said that also last week, so why do I have to repeat myself?"
"I wasn't here last week."
LVG: "And then I have to do that because you're not here."
"I'm not usually here."
LVG: "Yeah, but then I also recommend you to follow Manchester United when you want to put a question to me every week."
And that, we thought, was that. The questions continued before the full-time whistle was blown by United's Football Media Relations Manager who sits alongside Van Gaal for all the club's news conferences.
As reporters began to file out, the United boss, a stickler for routine, suddenly departed from the script and sat down next to the reporter - who was about to be presented with the best line of the day.
Van Gaal said De Gea had told him he wasn't eager to play for the club at the moment, as he was not 100% focused due to the speculation regarding his future - and fully agreed with the decision to leave him out of his squad.
The United boss added that this dialogue was part of a process involving the player, the manager and United's coaching staff and that he had sat down with the Spain international 'keeper before deciding he was not in the right frame of mind, currently, to be his No 1.
As the rest of the media began to hurriedly take notes while gesturing their cameramen to get shots of the chat, Van Gaal also revealed he does not think De Gea is playing at the same levels that made him his best player last season and a back-to-back winner of Manchester United's Player of the Year award.
With his point made, Van Gaal decided he had said enough and, refusing to answer further questions, made his exit with a wave and a smile, leaving the journalists who'd witnessed the encounter astonished at another glimpse of his unpredictable approach to the media.
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