Most Spurs fans will be well aware of the fact that Daniel Levy wanted to appoint Louis van Gaal as manager following Tim Sherwood’s dismissal at the end of the 2014-15 season.
The Dutchman has admitted multiple times over recent years ( De Telegraaf and BBC Sport) that he came close to agreeing a move to become the next Spurs boss before Manchester United came calling.
It was after Van Gaal’s decision to head to Old Trafford that Levy decided to appoint Mauricio Pochettino, a decision that the Spurs chairman will be quite pleased with, in hindsight.
Van Gaal, who won the Champions League with Ajax back in 1995, ultimately only lasted two years in the United hot seat before being replaced by Mourinho.
The 69-year-old has once again opened up on Levy’s approach to sign him and revealed that he would have become Tottenham’s next manager back in 2015 had the club acted more decisively, as he had an affinity for the North Londoners.
Speaking to FourFourTwo (as relayed by Goal), Van Gaal said: “Daniel Levy flew into Holland with a private jet and came to my house, where we spoke for several hours.
“He even stayed on to watch the Southampton-Spurs match later that afternoon [which Spurs won 3-2]. He asked for my thoughts about that game, so that was a kind of test as well.
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“When Levy wanted to leave in the evening, I noticed there were TV cameras outside my house. A Dutch broadcaster had heard that he was in Holland, and guessed he would be here for me.
“As we wanted to keep it quiet, I called my neighbour to ask whether he could take him away in his car. As they did, with Levy hiding in the back seat, I opened my front door and approached the reporters to ask what they were doing.
“It worked out very well – they were taken by surprise. As a coach, timing is everything! But it took Spurs a long time to make a firm offer, and United approached me in the meantime. They acted far quicker.
“I also liked the idea of going there, to coach the number one club in England – just like I had done before in Holland, Spain and Germany. If Spurs had come with a concrete offer earlier on, I’d have signed for them.
“Spurs were actually a club I liked when I was younger, as I was a big fan of Jimmy Greaves. I told Levy that as well, but he blew the chance by waiting so long.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Our 3-2 win over Southampton back in the December of 2014 was the first game in which Tim Sherwood took charge after Andre Villas-Boas’ sacking. So, it looks like Levy was quite swift in approaching Van Gaal after sacking AVB. Perhaps, the Spurs chairman had his doubts about the Dutch manager and that was why he hesitated in making an offer. In hindsight, he would certainly be glad to have missed out on Van Gaal and got Pochettino instead.
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