Manchester United’s jack of all trades Daley Blind has continued to sing the praises of former manager Louis van Gaal. The Dutchman has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford after being deemed surplus to requirements by Jose Mourinho, who prefers his players to be solid with their roles instead of versatile.

Blind has always been close with Van Gaal and has once more jumped to the defence of his former manager, claiming he didn’t deserve the criticism he got at Manchester United.

Van Gaal was sacked at the end of last season after missing out out on a Champions League qualifying place, despite securing a first FA Cup win since 2004. It was a sad end to a very bizarre era at United, but fans seem very pleased with the end result being Mourinho.

However, Blind believes we should not be so harsh on Van Gaal:

“Van Gaal did not deserve all the criticism. I rated him highly but football is tough at times,” he said.

“He knew it wasn’t going to be easy to restore success to United.”

“I don’t know whether Manchester United will be Van Gaal’s final act,” he added.

“But he worked so hard at the club until his last day and he could definitely take on a new project.”

[Quotes via the Mirror]

We sincerely hope Van Gaal gets into management one more time, with him being touted for the Belgium managers job. However, Blind is clearly very defensive over the former boss, and this may be down to his unrest at Mourinho’s appointment.