Jonny Evans credits Louis van Gaal for opening his eyes to a new approach at Manchester United

During Van Gaal’s first season in charge, Evans only made 17 appearances and wasn’t considered part of the long-term plans. He would later return to United in 2023 after leaving Leicester City.

Still, Evans spoke positively about Van Gaal’s influence on how he viewed football. “If you go by names, you’d probably say Van Gaal,” Evans said when asked which manager stood out for him outside of Sir Alex Ferguson.

“He was the total opposite to Sir Alex. You talk about players being themselves, but I learned so much from what he had to say and it opened my eyes to a different way of playing football.”

When asked if that influence changed his own game or just gave him more tactical awareness as a defender, Evans replied: “Your own game… both. The tactical side of the game, but also in terms of the detail of each pass and analysing it.

Sir Alex Ferguson surprised by Jonny Evans departure in 2015

Northern Ireland boss Michael O’Neill has spoken about how Sir Alex Ferguson reacted to Louis van Gaal’s decision to let Jonny Evans leave Manchester United for West Brom.

Evans was 27 when he moved to West Brom for £6 million, having already won three Premier League titles with United.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph in 2017, O’Neill said: “In September after last year’s Euros, there was a conference in France for the coaches and Sir Alex was there talking about it and he openly said to me that he could not believe Van Gaal had sold Jonny from United.”

O’Neill continued: “Having seen him come through, Sir Alex felt Jonny would spend his whole career at United or certainly to the latter stages of his career.”

He added: “I think there were a lot of factors why he ended up at West Brom. In the previous two years he had an injury and at Manchester United they had Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic.”

“Then Jonny and there was a succession plan that didn’t happen because of the change in manager.