Louis van Gaal close to Manchester United exit

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has lost the support of players and fans, and his days in the job are numbered, according to a Sky Sports ‘Sunday Supplement’ guest.

The Dutchman’s 18-month tenure at Old Trafford looks to be nearing an end, with United enduring a dismal run of form which has seen them eliminated from the Champions League, Capital One Cup and stutter in the Premier League.

Their Boxing Day defeat at Stoke City – their fourth consecutive loss in all competitions – left the Reds nine points adrift of leaders Leicester and three points off the top four.

Sky Sports News HQ expects Van Gaal to be in the United dugout when Chelsea visit in the Premier League on Monday.

But, speaking on the Sunday Supplement, Charlie Wyett of The Sun believes it is now just a matter of time before an “isolated” Van Gaal is relieved of his duties.

“Van Gaal has handled the situation badly,” Wyett said. “He lost the players a few weeks ago and he’s lost the majority of the fans now.

“He doesn’t know what to do, he is panicking and it’s reflecting in his team. He has handled the whole situation badly, last week, for example, when he tried to turn everything on the media and walking out of his press conference.

“Maybe that worked temporarily and he got a few more fans behind him but ultimately United are a mess on the pitch.

“I thought United would stumble on to the end of the season with Van Gaal and look to make a change then, but now it looks as though it’s days, maybe a couple of weeks [until he leaves].”

The focus now turns to who United will appoint as Van Gaal’s successor, should he leave the club, with former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and United assistant manager Ryan Giggs both linked with the job.

And Wyett believes United should steer clear of the short-term success Mourinho could bring and gamble on Giggs to see the club through to the end of the season

“Ultimately it hasn’t worked [for Van Gaal] and now United have a problem as to what to do,” Wyett added.

“If you compare him to Mourinho at Chelsea, in many respects, Mourinho had the support of more fans and certainly more of the players than Van Gaal does.

“Mourinho seems an obvious choice [to replace Van Gaal], although not all the fans want him. I think he would sort them out short term, but he is never going to be a long-term option, is he?

“At the moment, if and when Van Gaal does go, I think we’ll see Ryan Giggs come in. United fans that think Giggs will be a blazing success just don’t know that.

“He is inexperienced and, while he may be a great manager, he could be a disaster so that’s another gamble United have to take in the short term at least.” Sky Sports