Topics: Netherlands, Manchester United, Louis van Gaal, Premier League
The ex-Man Utd boss has lift the lid on his battle with cancer ahead of the premiere of his new film.

Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has announced he has been suffering from a severe form of prostate cancer for the last few months. The current head coach of the Dutch national team coach made the revelation on Dutch TV programme Humberto on Sunday.

After a five-year hiatus which followed his spell at Manchester United, Van Gaal came out of retirement to take charge of the Netherlands national team for a third time in August 2021. The former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach replaced Frank de Boer, who left the position in June after the team's disappointing Euro 2020 campaign. His return to the national team has yielded good fruits, with the European nation set to feature at Qatar 2022, having missed out on the last edition held in Russia.

On Sunday, Van Gaal dropped the bombshell about his condition while promoting his new film, LOUIS. Although the 70-year-old Dutch coach's battle with prostate cancer is featured in the film, it was a well guarded secret, one that none of his players knew about. "In each period during my time as manager of the National Team I had to leave in the night to go to the hospital without the players finding it out until now," he revealed. "While thinking I was healthy. But.. I am not."

The ex-Manchester United boss subsequently added that he has undergone 25 treatments with the hope of beating the illness. "I think you don't tell people you work with like that because it might influence their choices, their decisiveness.

"So I thought they shouldn't know. You don't die from prostate cancer, at least not in ninety percent of the cases. It is usually other underlying diseases that kill you. But I had a pretty aggressive form, got irradiated 25 times. Then you have a lot of management to do in order to go through life.

"I did have preferential treatment in the hospital. I was allowed in through the back door when I went to an appointment and was immediately pushed into another room. I have been treated wonderfully. You will of course tell your friends and relatives about it. The fact that nothing has come out yet also says something about my environment. That's great."

Manchester United sent a goodwill message to their former boss in response to the news via Twitter, saying: "Everybody at Manchester United is fully behind our former manager, Louis van Gaal, in his battle against cancer. Sending you strength and courage, Louis."

In his time at Old Trafford, Van Gaal won the FA Cup and was instrumental in the club's run-in to winning their first Europa League title in the 2016/2017 season.