"The team that this technical staff will deliver after the World Cup feels like a gift," Hiddink said of Van Gaal's work in getting the squad to Wednesday's last four encounter against Argentina in Sao Paulo. Germany await the winners in the final.
Hiddink said the dramatic development of players like Ron Vlaar, Stefan de Vrij, Jasper Cillessen and Bruno Martins Indi was a massive boost for his task of qualifying the side for the next European Championships being held in France.
"These players have not only won much more value for their clubs but also much more value for themselves. They have learnt in some tough matches to work out solutions and how to act on them," he said in an interview in Wednesday's Algemeen Dagblad.
"They will come home in the next week as much better footballers having made unbelievable progress.
"That will give me a huge advantage when I take over a national coach. They will bring all they've learnt to the team as well as their clubs," he added.
Hiddink also weighed in to the prickly debate in the Netherlands over Van Gaal's decision to dispense with the traditional 'Dutch school' of total football and try different formations in his five games in Brazil to date.
"You go to these tournaments to win. First survival and then worry about playing good football. The Dutch way of playing is just one of many styles of play but most importantly a way of teaching and developing," he told the Dutch newspaper.
Hiddink, who was in charge when the Dutch beat Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in France, will start his next tenure as coach on September 4 with a friendly against Italy.
The match in Bari will followed nine days later by the Netherlands' first Euro 2016 qualifier against the Czech Republic in Prague, the Dutch football association KNVB said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by John O'Brien)
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