Louis van Gaal Will Achieve Success at Manchester United, Says Steve McClaren

Steve McClaren has backed Louis van Gaal to achieve success at Manchester United if the Netherlands coach lands the managerial job at Old Trafford.

The 62-year-old former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager has been strongly linked to replace David Moyes as the club's permanent manager next season. The Telegraph claims the Red Devils could announce Van Gaal's appointment in the next few days.

McClaren was the assistant manager at Old Trafford under Sir Alex Ferguson during 1999-2001. Derby County boss believes the appointment of Van Gaal as the next United boss would be a "perfect fit".

"Without a doubt he has what it takes. He has a strange reputation. He's very forthright. He knows what he wants. He knows what he's doing and he's very disciplined. I've also heard that you either love him or you hate him - he's one of those characters," McClaren told Sky Sports.

"He is successful, he gets teams winning and he's experienced at that level. He can manage top players and win things at the top so he's a perfect fit for any of the top five clubs in Europe."

After the disappointing spell with the England national team, McClaren joined Dutch club FC Twente in 2008. During his first spell in the Eredivisie, Van Gaal was managing AZ Alkmaar.

The Holland boss guided AZ to the league title during the 2008/09 season as McClaren's former side were the runners-up during that campaign. Derby manager heaped praise for the Dutchman's managerial style during his stint with the Eredivisie outfit.

"Van Gaal is the only man I've ever had to present flowers to. In my first season in Holland, he was manager of AZ and I was manager of Twente. They had won the league and we were second," the former United assistant manager said.

"It was a game we had to win to finish second and they'd already won the league, so we thought we'd shower them with love and hope they'd lie down and die and give us a result. We made a procession for the players and I presented Van Gaal with a bunch of flowers."