Louis van Gaal
Who will be joining van Gaal at Old Trafford?

The worst kept secret in football is out; Louis van Gaal has been officially named the new Manchester United manager. The Dutchman will arrive after Netherlands' World Cup campaign and will be tasked with picking the club up from their worst season in the Premier League era.

A look across the United squad list suggests we can expect a number of additions on the pitch, but who will be joining the 62-year-old in the dugout?

Frans Hoek will follow Van Gaal from the Dutch national team to the set up to Old Trafford having etched a career focusing on the modern dynamics of goalkeeping. Both Chris Woods and his predecessor Eric Steele were rightfully credited with helping David de Gea become perhaps the finest young goalkeeper in Europe but the new man charged with working with the Spaniard on a daily basis arrives off the back of notable work with some of the biggest clubs on the continent.

Wherever Van Gaal has been, Hoek has never been far behind. The 58-year-old worked alongside a youthful Edwin van der Sar in Amsterdam as the young Dutch shot stopper began carving his formidable reputation in Europe before following Van Gaal to Barcelona , Netherlands and then onto Bayern Munich in 2009.

Having worked alongside a series of highly regarded shot stoppers in Victor Valdes, Victor Baia and Pepe Reina, Hoek's emphasis on distribution and starting attacks from the back have paid dividends at the highest level.

Frans Hoek
Frans Hoek (far right) will follow LvG to Old Trafford.

When van Gaal and his team arrive in Manchester following the World Cup, it won't be Hoek's first visit to the city, however. The Dutch assistant coach was invited to Manchester City's facilities just last year to address the club's academy and indulge the club's prospects and staff alike in his vision of the game.

"It was really interesting to hear Frans's journey and more about his methodology - the feedback has been great," said City's U18s manager at the time Adam Sadler.

"This is a really important part of the aforementioned model employed at Ajax in the nineties and Barcelona today and Frans went into lots of detail on his theories on the best way to do that."

Alongside Hoek in a new-look backroom team at Old Trafford will be Marcel Bout. Bout is another close cohort of Van Gaal's having worked alongside the Dutch coach during his spell with AZ Alkmaar, which yielded Eredivisie success in 2009. He joined van Gaal at Bayern Munich the following year where he largely worked as a match analyst, scouting future opponents.

After van Gaal's somewhat tempestuous relationship with the Bavarian giants ended in 2011, Bout remained part of the Bayern back room team, moving up to assistant manager alongside Bayern's interim boss Andries Jonker and was retained by Jupp Heynckes as he set about moulding a side that would so emphatically dominate Germany and Europe in the 2012/13 season.

It remains to be seen what role, if any, Van Gaal has in store for the rest of United's backroom staff, particularly the Class of '92 graduates who adorned the dugout during the final games of the season. Similarly, questions remain over Patrick Kluivert, who has already admitted he would jump at the chance to follow Van Gaal to Old Trafford.

But in Hoek and Bout, United have their first new additions of the Van Gaal reign.