Louis van Gaal to Manchester United latest: Ryan Giggs still in the dark with plans uncertain

Ryan Giggs is still waiting to hear whether he will be appointed as assistant manager to Louis van Gaal at Manchester United, as he prepares for a possible final appearance for the club at Old Trafford tonight.

The Dutchman is expected to be revealed as the next United manager in the next 48 hours – possibly before United’s home match against Hull City – but Giggs’ future remains unclear and it is possible that he will close off the evening by bringing himself on as a substitute during a game which has no significance for the team.

The obstacles to Giggs being named assistant appear to be less formidable than had been thought, with suggestions from several reputable sources in the Netherlands yesterday that Patrick Kluivert – an assistant to Van Gaal in the national team set-up – may not be appointed the Dutchman’s United No 2, as some had anticipated. With Danny Blind, Van Gaal’s No 2 with the Netherlands, definitely not moving to Manchester with him, the task of keeping Giggs happy as assistant while introducing an outsider, may not be as difficult as anticipated. It is possible that Van Gaal will be at Old Trafford to see the penultimate game of the club’s desperate season.

Giggs, who will not have Wayne Rooney fit for tonight and has also excluded Rio Ferdinand from his squad to face Steve Bruce’s team, will be left with the decision of whether to address the crowd after the game, as Sir Alex Ferguson always did. It is thought that he will not take the microphone, as he has only been manager for three games and is highly unlikely to be in place next year.

There are no plans for a special send-off for captain Nemanja Vidic, who will move to Internazionale next season, though with Patrice Evra also possibly taking his bow, the evening will feel like a curtain falling on the great United side Ferguson put together.

Evra has expressed his sadness at the departure of his team-mate Vidic, remembering how the two of them had made inauspicious debuts together for United’s reserves in January 2006.

“When you speak about Nemanja, it’s like you are speaking about myself,” Evra said. “We joined the club together. We have been in the same hotels. We go into training together. We win the same trophies.

“Thanks to him, because I play alongside him and for me he was a great centre-back. When you see a player like Nemanja Vidic is leaving this club you feel really sad.”