Louis van Gaal Refuses to Enter War of Words With Jose Mourinho

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has refrained from entering into a public war of words with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho following his criticism of the signing of Luke Shaw

The England international became football's most expensive teenager when he joined United for £27m in a deal reportedly worth £100,000-a-week, after the Blues had been rumored with an interest in his services.

Mourinho later claimed that the addition of Shaw would have "killed" Chelsea in terms of financial fair play, a thinly veiled swipe at the money United committed to attaining the 19 year old.

But Van Gaal, who had Mourinho working under him during the Dutchman's spell at Barcelona, has been unmoved by the comment.

"He shall not do that with me," the Dutchman said. "I play against Chelsea. And not against José Mourinho. My team and his team are playing against each other."

"No. I'm not reacting to that kind of stuff."

When asked about Shaw earlier this month, Mourinho said: "If we pay to a 19-year-old boy what we were being asked for, to sign Luke Shaw, we are dead.

"We would have killed our stability with financial fair play and killed the stability in our dressing room, because when you pay that much to a 19-year-old kid - a good player, fantastic player - but when you pay that amount of money, the next day, we would have had players knocking on our door.

"They would have been saying, 'How is it possible I play 200 games for this club, won this and that, yet a 19-year-old comes here and gets more money than I get?"'

Both Van Gaal and Mourinho are famous for using mind games within their management style but it appears Chelsea and United fans will have to wait until the season starts before the pair begin their verbal jousting.

United and Chelsea meet for the first time in the new Premier League season on 26 October.