Louis van Gaal will improve Manchester United by up to 25%, according to Paul Scholes. The former midfielder is certain the Dutchman has a “touch of genius” that can make the 20-times champions serious challengers again.

Van Gaal’s Holland face Argentina in Wednesday’s second World Cup semi-final. Scholes, who is waiting to hear if he will be offered a coaching role at United, believes Van Gaal has led Holland to the closing stages of the tournament despite the Dutch being an average team.

“Right now, Manchester United fans and myself cannot wait for Louis van Gaal to get the job started at Old Trafford. It’s not a vintage Holland team he’s managing and Van Gaal has got them to the brink of a World Cup final. He’s going to have to perform a similar operation at United after a shocking season in 2013-2014,” Scholes told Paddy Power.

United endured a dismal title defence under David Moyes last season, finishing in seventh position, 22 points behind the champions, Manchester City. “Van Gaal seems to have the Midas touch, and with his coaching reputation and vast experience he can bring a lot to the club. He’ll improve last year’s performance by 20/25%, I feel.

“As well as the new signings, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, and hopefully more to come, he’ll bring more out of the players who are already there. I’m actually really excited about next season,” said Scholes. “Van Gaal is not afraid of big decisions, which he showed by bringing on the Newcastle keeper Tim Krul for the Dutch No1, Jasper Cillessen, for the penalty shootout against Costa Rica [in the quarter-final]. Krul had saved only two out of the last 20 penalties with Newcastle. The evidence did not seem to be there for that big a decision.

“But whatever Louis van Gaal does, seems to work. He substituted his captain, Robin van Persie, when Holland were 1-0 down to Mexico and they came back to win. He seems to have a bit of genius about him, and hopefully can work this magic on United next year.”

As reported by The Guardian on Monday Manchester United have confirmed that their England World Cup contingent of Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones and Chris Smalling will be on the full summer tour of the US, along with Spain’s Juan Mata and David De Gea, and Japan’s Shinji Kagawa, who also played in the tournament.