Van Gaal keeps his lips zipped on future

LOUIS VAN GAAL does not know if he will still be managing Manchester United next season if the club fail to qualify for the Champions League.

United are fifth in the Premier League, trailing fourth-placed Manchester City by six points going into today’s trip to relegation-threatened Sunderland.

“It is not a question for me, I think,” the Dutchman said yesterday when asked if a failure to finish in the top four would cost him his job. “It is a question of the board of Manchester United, you have to put that question to them. I have a contract for three years and you know that.”

Jose Mourinho has been widely linked with the United job in media reports, but Van Gaal, who has accused journalists of inventing the story, does not mind that the club have not publicly denied the rumours. “I have said many times that not all the media, but a lot of media, is inventing stories and you don’t have to answer on invented stories,” he added.

United are without Phil Jones, Adnan Januzaj and Guillermo Varela for the today’s trip to Sunderland, but Antonio Valencia and Marcos Rojo are nearing full fitness. – Reuters