Van Gaal: Bayern return unlikely

Dutchman not prepared to work with Bavarians' president again

BERLIN - Louis van Gaal has ruled out returning to Bayern Munich and succeeding Jupp Heynckes - as long as Uli Hoeness remains club president.

Bayern has a 19-point lead atop the Bundesliga and is in the hunt for the treble of European, German league and cup titles.

However, Bayern's current head coach Heynckes, 72, has repeatedly said he will quit at the end of the season.

The search is on to replace him and Van Gaal, currently without a club, would be an obvious candidate.

The 66-year-old has won 20 club titles in his career, most recently the 2016 FA Cup in a two-year stint at Manchester United.

He coached Bayern from 2009-11, losing the 2010 Champions League final, but winning the Bundesliga and German Cup titles only to be fired the following season.

The Dutchman said he "loves" Bayern, but ruled out returning.

"I have always gone back, whether it was to Barcelona, the national Dutch team, AZ Alkmaar, but returning to Bayern? - I can't imagine that," Van Gaal told German magazine Sport Bild on Wednesday.

"As long as Uli Hoeness is at the club, I won't work there."

'Special relationships'

Van Gaal was dismissed in April 2011 when Bayern slipped out of the German league's top three - the Champions League qualification places at the time.

The Dutchman lifted the lid on working under Hoeness, saying: "Uli Hoeness has cultivated special relationships with certain players and campaigns for their interests - like (Franck) Ribery who, according to Mr Hoeness, should always play.

"In my opinion, that's not good for the work of a coach.

"The team is important and not the individual players. In this regard Hoeness and I differ.

"After one conversation (with Hoeness) my wife told me I should quit FC Bayern. "I kept working there because I love the club.

"The German mentality is also my mentality. Hard training, fight until the end, never give up - the job was made for me."

Van Gaal said Hoeness would criticize him for blooding current stars, like Thomas Mueller and David Alaba who were inexperienced at the time.

"I would always select Thomas Mueller, and Hoeness would tell my wife in the VIP lounge: 'Your husband has picked the wrong team again'," said Van Gaal.

"Same with David Alaba. He made a mistake in the last minute of a game, which led to my dismissal. Now he is one of the biggest talents Bayern has."

Van Gaal also confirmed two legends from his turbulent times at Bayern. He once pulled striker Luca Toni by the ear for slouching during a meal "because it was disrespectful to his teammates and me".

He also hinted that the long-held rumor that he pulled down his underwear in the locker room after at loss at Mainz - to show his squad he "had the balls" to drop them - was true.

"What happened with my players behind closed doors should remain so, but anyone who knows me also knows it could have happened.

"I am emotional," said Van Gaal.

Despite his personality clash with Hoeness, Van Gaal talked of his affection for Bayern.

"Manchester United, the last team I coached, is a commercial club, Bayern are totally different," he said.

"The bosses, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, are former players who know what they are talking about.

"For them, football is the most important thing, not money, like it is at United. That's why I love FC Bayern."

Agence France - presse