Manchester United Will Improve Under Louis Van Gaal, Insists Frank Arnesen

Frank Arnesen insists Manchester United have improved under Louis van Gaal and will continue to develop next season.

Arnesen, who was assistant coach and then sporting director at PSV Eindhoven when Van Gaal was achieving success with Ajax in the 1990s, believes any manager would have struggled to succeed Sir Alex Ferguson as David Moyes did at Old Trafford, and says Van Gaal has now steadied the ship.

United will be looking to reverse a run of three straight defeats when they face Crystal Palace on Saturday but they still sit four points above fifth-placed Liverpool.

Van Gaal had a difficult start to his tenure at Old Trafford with United losing to MK Dons in the Capital One Cup, before his side saw an upturn in form to put them in contention for Champions League qualification.

The Dutch boss expects his team to challenge for the title next season and former Tottenham director Arnesen has been impressed with his start to English football.

“It’s always very difficult to come after Ferguson,” said Arnesen, who won 52 caps for Denmark. “Ferguson had so many [more] years than Moyes.

“Now Louis van Gaal has come in. Louis is a builder and he makes players better, has a very good vision of the game and he believes in himself and the players believe in his ideas and you can see that.

“I think if you see compared to the first two, three months of the season and the last three months they have been so much better – not only the team getting better, but the players are getting better. They will continue this next year I am sure.”

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