The Ajax coach is one of the favourites to be appointed United boss but Van Gaal - who spent two seasons in charge at United and lifted the FA Cup in 2016 - says his compatriot has a "difficult choice" about whether to come to Manchester.

"Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United," said Van Gaal, who is currently in charge of the Netherlands. "But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it's a difficult choice for a coach. He'd better go to a football club.

"I'm not going to advise him, he'll call me himself. But he must choose a football club and not a commercial club.'

United want to make a permanent appointment before the summer and plan to speak to a number of candidates, with Ten Hag understood to have met with the Premier League club as part of that process last week.

Former Tottenham and current Paris Saint-Germain coach Mauricio Pochettino, Spain boss Luis Enrique and Sevilla head coach Julen Lopetegui have also been linked with the vacant post.

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United - who face Leicester live on Sky Sports on Saturday - are currently in a battle for a Champions League qualifying spot, sitting sixth in the Premier League, four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand.

Among Premier League clubs, the latest Deloitte Money League places United second for total revenue in 2021, only trailing local rivals Manchester City.

However, outgoing executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward insisted the "top priority is success on the pitch" when he spoke in November 2021.

LVG's formation clash with Van Dijk

Van Gaal was also firm this week when he shut down suggestions his defender Virgil van Dijk would prefer to play in a different formation.

The Netherlands lined up in a 3-4-1-2 system for their 4-2 win over Denmark on Saturday. Afterwards, Liverpool centre-back Van Dijk said: "Of course, we are playing in a new system, different things are required of the players. But I think we showed a lot of good things.

"Do I like the system? Well, I'm still in favour of 4-3-3 but I'm not the national coach and the national coach has a very strong opinion about it."

Van Gaal, who became Netherlands coach for a third time in August and helped them qualify for Qatar 2022, said in response: "I know he has that preference, he always said this publicly.

"We already had this debate when I came here. The manager decides the tactics."