Sir Alex Ferguson has praised Louis van Gaal for “clearing the decks” at Manchester United since taking over as manager in the summer after steering Holland to the World Cup semi-finals.

In his first public statement since the Dutchman arrived at Old Trafford to succeed the sacked David Moyes, Ferguson told MUTV: “Louis van Gaal has made a lot of changes and, thinking about that, actually maybe he’s doing the right thing, to clear the decks and build his own team. Because he’s got the experience and coaching ability to do that. The way he’s approached it I think has been brilliant.”

Van Gaal spent £150m on summer signings, including paying a British record £59.7m for the Argentina winger Ángel di Maria from Real Madrid, and cleared out 14 players.

Ferguson’s comments came in a programme called Sir Alex: Life After Management in which he admitted that during a holiday in December he had a fleeting wish to be working again. “It was the first time I’ve ever had a holiday in my life in December,” Ferguson said. “And I’m sitting there at pool side in Abu Dhabi and I said to Cathy [his wife], ‘I should be at Carrington!’”