Ribery laments `lack of feeling` with Van Gaal

France international midfielder Franck Ribery said Tuesday he has yet to forge any kind of personal relationship with new Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal.

Ribery, a transfer target for several top clubs in the close season including Real Madrid, said he much preferred former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.

“It’s the first time that I haven’t really felt close to a coach. There’s not much feeling between us at all,” Ribery said in an interview in L’Equipe sports daily Tuesday.

He added in France football: “Our relationship is professional. It was totally different with Ottmar Hitzfeld, for example. He was a real joy to work with and the best coach I’ve known at Bayern.”

Hitzfeld departed Bayern, whom he led to Champions League triumph in 2001, in May 2008 after helping the Bavarian side to the league and Cup double.

He was replaced by Jurgen Klinsmann, who left the club after Bayern finished second in the Bundesliga in 2009 behind winners Wolfsburg.

Van Gaal was brought in but after four matches in the 2010 campaign Bayern sit eighth in the German league table with only five points, five less than leaders Hamburg and second-placed Bayer Leverkusen.