Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United future is increasingly uncertain after the coach was omitted from the club’s promotional video for this summer’s upcoming pre-season tour of china.
The 48-second video features plenty of United stars both past and present, but the non-inclusion of Van Gaal will further fuel speculation that his time at Old Trafford is coming to an end, particularly as he featured prominently in last season’s version.
Consequently, it now appears increasingly likely that the man in the dugout for United’s curtain-raising pre-season clash against Manchester City in Beijing on July 25th will not be the veteran Dutchman.
The high-profile nature of that match could mean that Van Gaal’s successor in the hot-seat is unveiled then, with his former protege at Barcelona Jose Mourinho widely tipped to replace him.
Former Chelsea coach Mourinho has been heavily linked with replacing Van Gaal this summer, with United sitting sixth in the Premier League table as well as exiting both the Champions League and Europa League.
United announced on Wednesday that they will head to China to face Borussia Dortmund on 22 July and Manchester City on 25 July in the International Champions Cup.
The 48-second clip features 14 current first-team players, a number of former stars, but Van Gaal is absent.
United still have hopes of a top-four finish after youth graduate Marcus Rashford scored the only goal in a 1-0 derby win at Man City last Sunday to put Van Gaal’s side within one point of the Champions League qualification places.
Van Gaal also retains hopes of silverware this season despite a disappointing campaign so far, with an FA Cup quarter-final replay against West Ham set for April 13 at the Boleyn Ground.
However, the fact that the club is scrapping just to secure the final Champions League place after spending approximately £250 million under Van Gaal is part of the reason why his job has come under such scrutiny.
Premier League teams avoiding imagery of under-fire managers and ex-coaches is not a new concept, with Chelsea replacing an image of Roberto Di Matteo on the iconic West Stand wall after sacking him in 2012 just months after winning the Champions League.
The original image featured Di Matteo alongside his Blues squad and the trophies they won during the 2011-12 season, but that was soon replaced by another of his players celebrating their Champions League success minus the Italian coach.
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