"An operation at the open heart" - Ralf Rangnick explains what new Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag must do to bring back the glory days at the club

Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick believes the Red Devils need more than just minor adjustments to become a force again.

The club recently announced that Eric ten Hag will take over as the manager this summer, and his arrival has been met with a lot of positivity from the fans.

The Red Devils were hoping to move forward as a club following Rangnick’s arrival but that process hasn’t quite happened.

The alarming stagnancy was evident in the side’s recent defeat at the hands of Liverpool, who have a clear structure in place.

Rangnick explained that Manchester United need a major reshuffle, calling it an "open heart” operation:

“You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are. Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. 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.”

The German added that new manager Ten Hag will need more support and can’t turn things around all by himself:

“For sure [strong leadership is needed]. This is something that not just one single person as a manager can do. With all respect to Jürgen [Klopp] and Pep [Guardiola] 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.”

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Manchester United will need a strong finish to the season to help with the rebuild

Manchester United have been on an awful run of form as they have won just two of their last five games in the Premier League.

The poor run of results has seen them lose ground in the race for the top four. They are still in it, however, and need to ensure they finish strongly.

Finishing in the top four and securing Champions League football would make the club a more prospective destination for players in the summer transfer window.

Rangnick’s side will have the chance to close the gap on the teams above them when they face Arsenal at the Emirates later today.