Van Gaal: United players were unprofessional

Cape Town - Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has slammed "unprofessional" players at the club who did not read his e-mails.

Van Gaal managed the Red Devils from 2014 to 2016 with mixed fortunes.

Despite guiding the Premier League outfit to FA Cup glory in 2016, the Dutchman was widely criticised for his defensive brand of football and lost his job after failing to qualify for the Champions League.

Speaking to Bild, Van Gaal revealed he did not always receive the commitment he wanted from his players at Old Trafford.

Specifically, the 66-year-old claimed they had a tendency to ignore his emails preparing them for individual meetings to track their progress, forcing him to attach alerts to track whether or not players opened them.

"I developed the digital tracker with my IT man. Each player was able to log in," Van Gaal said.

"So I gave everyone the opportunity to prepare for the conversation with me at home and to meet me in dialogue at eye level."

When asked about players not reading his messages, he said: "That's true, too. But this testifies to their lack of professionalism and I have then addressed them.

"But I already did that with the emails at Bayern. My conviction is that a full professional also wants to live professionally, like Arjen Robben. He read the emails."

Since his ill-fated tenure at United, Van Gaal has not returned to management.