Muller's wife BLOCKED him from making an £84m move to Old Trafford

Louis van Gaal has revealed how Thomas Muller's wife blocked the German moving to Manchester United in the summer of 2015.

The Red Devils were heavily interested in signing the World Cup winner, with Dutch coach Van Gaal twice attempting to sign a player he worked with during his time as Bayern Munich boss from 2009-2011.

Now German outlet BILD reveal why the moves did not materialise, with Van Gaal stating that Muller's wife Lisa - a champion dressage rider - was not open to a transfer abroad despite United bidding £84million for the forward.

Van Gaal says of Lisa's involvement: 'In 2015 it would have been possible if his wife had been a little more open to a transfer abroad.

'At least that was the reason Thomas gave my assistant Marcel Bout, who had had all the conversations with him, why the transfer had been rejected.'

United had offered more than €100m (£84m) to Bayern in 2015 and the player himself was offered a £16m-a-year pay-packet to move to Old Trafford.

Van Gaal, now in charge of the Holland national team for the third time in his career, also stated that United went in for Muller a year earlier too.

On the first rejection, he says: 'In 2014 the board of directors of FC Bayern was persistent.'

Since then, Muller has gone on to renew his deal at the Allianz Arena twice and he currently has a contract at the club until the summer of 2023.

He has won the Champions League twice - in 2013 and 2020 - and an astonishing 10 Bundesliga titles.

Muller and his wife also have a successful side business where they sell horse semen online, with their breeding farm named 'EU Insemination Station' for 2021.