Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has delivered a complete breakdown of the club's problems in a fascinating press conference ahead of their Premier League clash against Arsenal on Saturday.
Back in November, following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the former RB Leipzig coach was given an interim role at Old Trafford until the end of the season, with the possibility of taking on a consultancy role for a two further years.
He has enjoyed mixed success since taking over but it was confirmed earlier this week that United have moved to appoint Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, who will take over at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
Rangnick has not shied away from giving his opinion in post-match interviews since coming in, and during a recent press conference, the 63-year-old German warned that there will be no quick fix under incoming manager Ten Hag.
In fact, he likened the situation at United to open heart surgery.
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“You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are,” he said in his press conference on Friday.
“Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart. If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year."
Rangnick added: “For sure [strong leadership is needed]. This is something that not just one single person as a manager can do. With all respect to Jurgen and Pep, I’m sure that they didn’t do all the things themselves [at Liverpool and Manchester City]. There were also other people involved in those two clubs, people in certain positions, no matter what area it was, in order to rebuild and build something we want to build here. In all areas you have to have top people and they have to work together in a very close, reliable way.”
In the press conference, Rangnick went on to back incoming manager Ten Hag, who has impressed at Ajax since taking over in 2017.
“All I heard from people who work with him is that he is a very good character, communicative, and does things himself,” he said.
“Obviously he needs the assistance of all the people inside the club and he will get that and have the chance to mould a new team together with the scouting department and the board, which is necessary. The most vital part is that the club manages to get in the best possible players, and we have the attitude, the energy. We need positive energy for the new team and this is also important for the new manager.”
The future of Paul Pogba has been a big talking of late and Rangnick admitted the French midfielder probably won't play for the club again after picking up a knock against Liverpool.
“He won’t be available [at Arsenal] and most likely not for the rest of the games. It seems right now he will not renew his contract [so] it’s most likely he won’t be here any more next season.”
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Topics: Manchester United, Ralf Rangnick, Erik Ten Hag, Ajax, Premier League
Jack Kenmare