Lindegaard Excited By Goalkeeping Coach Hoek

Anders Lindegaard is relishing the opportunity to learn from Manchester United’s new goalkeeping coach Frans Hoek, who has arrived at the club alongside manager Louis van Gaal.

Hoek has an excellent reputation after working with some of the world’s best glovesmen, having developed Reds legend Edwin van der Sar at Ajax in the early 1990s before preening the abilities of Victor Valdes and Pepe Reina during his time at Barcelona.

While Lindegaard was admittedly sad to see former coach Chris Woods leave United following an enjoyable season under his tutelage, the Danish stopper is clearly enthused by the new era and the chance to soak up the knowledge of another mentor.

Asked by ManUtd.com if he is excited to work with van Gaal and Hoek, Anders said: “Yeah, very much so, both Mr van Gaal and Frans Hoek the goalkeeping coach. I have heard a lot of good things and I am really excited to start working with both of them.

“You benefit from having a period of time with every goalkeeping coach and it was quite a short period that we had with Chris Woods," Lindegaard continued. "We really enjoyed that time with him, or at least I did.

“But just looking at Frans Hoek’s results - and what he has done for different goalkeepers throughout his career - speaks for itself. Everyone would be excited about working with him and I am definitely excited to get started."

Lindegaard is currently taking part in the Tour 2014, which sees United prepare for the new season with a series of high-profile friendlies in America. Though training is difficult, the articulate Dane is relishing the hard work.

“My summer was almost a bit long to be honest, though you have to be careful moaning about things like that because it might be shorter next summer," he explained. "Eight weeks off was to the longer side, for me, so I am happy to be back. The last few weeks of the holiday were just about waiting to come back.

“It had been too long without football, too long away from the training ground and it has been tickling in my fingers and feet to get out working again, even though you know it is going to be painful in the first couple of weeks."

Quizzed on how a goalkeeper’s pre-season compares to outfielder, Anders was keen to point out that his fellow stoppers work much harder than fans might expect.

“It is actually worse for goalkeepers. We do the same things as the outfield players, but when they go to do their cool-down the goalkeepers go to do some proper work. The outfield players haven’t got a clue how easy they have it!”