Manchester United vs Liverpool: Louis van Gaal admits he 'simply cannot understand' what Wayne Rooney says when he talks to him

Van Gaal has praised the United captain among his top five players to have coached but still hasn't got to grips with his Liverpudlian accent

Wayne Rooney at a press conference alongside Louis van Gaal (Getty Images)

Louis van Gaal has lavished praise on Wayne Rooney after naming him among the five best players he has worked with, but he still cannot understand what the Manchester United captain says when he speaks.

Van Gaal made the claim during an appearance on a Dutch TV chat show, in which he said he could not understand the England captain if he was sitting next to him in the same room.

Van Gaal told RTL4's Linda's Zommerweek: “When I speak, I am well articulated.

“If you put Wayne Rooney here in the seat, and you start talking to him, do you think people can understand Wayne Rooney? You simply can't understand what he says.”

It’s not the first time that Rooney’s team addresses have been brought up after the national team skipper was credited for saying the right thing at the right time during last season. The 29-year-old, who hails from Croxeth in Liverpool and has a thick Liverpudlian accent, even resorted to swearing at his Spanish teammates in their native language in order to get across his unhappiness at times.

Rooney gestures during United's loss to Swansea (Getty Images)

But Van Gaal was quick to praise Rooney, who joins Luis Figo, Ronaldo de Boer, Philipp Lahm and Bastian Schweinsteiger among the Dutchman’s top five coachable players and labelled the record England goalscorer as the “best-ever captain” he has worked with.

Rooney and Van Gaal certainly had a busy week when it came to the headlines, as just a day after the striker broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s record for the most goals scored for the Three Lions, news of a row between Van Gaal and the United squad broke.

A number of players are believed to be unhappy with Van Gaal’s training methods and his use of video analyst Max Reckers, with both Rooney and Michael Carrick said to have approached Van Gaal to try and ease building tensions at Old Trafford.

Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney (Getty Images)

However, if Van Gaal’s admission is anything to go by, the manager may not have had a clue what Rooney was trying to convey.

Rooney will hope that he can deliver another rousing team talk this weekend when United take on fierce rivals Liverpool in Saturday’s evening kick-off. Both sides enjoyed unbeaten starts to the campaign after taking seven points from their first three matches, but they are coming off defeats in their last outings as United went down 2-1 to Swansea while the Reds were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by West Ham.

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