Rafael Da Silva did not get on with Louis van Gaal at Manchester United.
During his two years as United manager, Van Gaal didn’t win over a lot of fans. The Dutchman, who was appointed in the summer of 2014 to much fanfare after leading the Netherlands to third place in the World Cup, became an increasingly unpopular figure at Old Trafford because of his dull brand of football and abrasive personality.
And nobody arguably experienced van Gaal’s cold nature more than Rafael.
The Brazilian full-back broke into the United team under Alex Ferguson and remained a regular fixture in the line-up under David Moyes before falling out of favour with van Gaal, making just 11 appearances in his final season.
He was sold to Lyon in September 2015 and has forged a decent career for himself in France.
Nearly three years have passed but Rafael retains an extremely strong opinion of van Gaal. Speaking to Andy Mitten for a during a fascinating interview for ESPN, the 27-year-old right-back let loose on his former manager.
“In his first season, van Gaal called me to his office and said: ‘You can leave,'” Rafael said. “The meeting lasted one minute. That was it: ‘You can leave.’ It took time for me to go, but I was desperate to leave when I did, and that saddens me because I loved everything about Manchester United.
“Van Gaal is not a bad coach, but I didn’t like his character. One day, I was in the canteen waiting to eat. van Gaal used to speak to us after we’d eaten each day. I had a head injury after a game at Yeovil – one of the few games I played in that season – and I was touching my injury. After three or four seconds, he touched my head and said: ‘Why don’t you respect me?’
“I stood up and said: ‘I always respect you. I’ve never said anything which was disrespectful to you.’ I am a patient guy, but I got angry then. I had done nothing wrong. Antonio [Valencia] later said to me: ‘You’re not going to play again.’ Players didn’t speak back to van Gaal. Antonio was almost right; I barely played again. I love Manchester United, but I was so desperate to leave United. Only one man did that because I liked everything about the place. I couldn’t handle him anymore.”
After selling him to Lyon, van Gaal sent Rafael a blunt text message which read ‘you know how football is.’
Not wanting to engage in a war of words with the Dutchman, Rafael replied with a simple ‘thank you,’ although he did admit he was angry.
“I couldn’t believe it. He didn’t speak to me and then texted me to wish me well.”
Asked if he replied to the text, he added: “I did. I said: ‘Thank you.’ I was being polite. But I was angry.”
It certainly seems as though van Gaal had it in for Rafael. The idea that the Dutchman didn’t need much persuading to discard a player who was rated highly by Ferguson is one that jars with United fans.
But what’s done is done. It sounds as though van Gaal’s reign had elements of an autocracy about it and Rafael wasn’t prepared to sit back and accept his manager’s comments. However, he wasn’t the only one. By the time van Gaal was sacked in May 2016, just hours after winning the FA Cup, he had a fractured relationship with several players, quite possibly stemming from his uncompromising and demanding tactics and self-styled ‘philosophy.’
If anything, the Rafael story offers a glimpse into the kind of tense and fractious atmosphere that existed during van Gaal’s time at the club.
Rafael made 169 appearances in seven years at United, winning three Premier League titles during his time in England.
