Manchester United’s ideal replacement for Louis van Gaal rejected the job in November

Carlo Ancelotti has never been as popular.

The Italian is set to become the new Bayern Munich boss in a few months as Pep Guardiola's replacement. The ex-Chelsea manager has been out of work since quitting Real Madrid last summer, and in the interim has been in the conversation for pretty much every job under the sun. Liverpool had him in their sights before appointing Jurgen Klopp, while during Jose Mourinho's issues at Stamford Bridge, he was also linked with a return to his old stomping ground. However according to the Daily Mail this morning, Manchester United fans could be looking forward to life under the Italian from this summer instead of the German giants, if only Louis van Gaal had been thrown under the bus in November. The newspaper reports that Ancelotti was approached by the club to take over from the flailing Dutchman by Ed Woodward, but he instead took the plunge with the Bundesliga champions. His appointment was confirmed just before Christmas after a number of weeks of discussions with the German side. The only consolation to the news for Manchester United fans could be that Ancelotti would only have taken over in the summer, so Manchester United would still have been stuck with LvG until May at least. However Woodward is understood to have been hoping his appointment would have been a key step for fans anxious to see a more attack minded approach at the club. The paper reports that Ancelotti felt ‘more wanted’ by the offer from central Europe than the approach from Manchester, and the Italian preferred the internal set-up of Bayern Munich to the seemingly chaotic nature of life behind the scenes at Old Trafford.