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Former Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has claimed that he had identified the club's issues within just two weeks of replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last season.
Rangnick, who is currently Austria's head coach, was handed the responsibility of guiding the Red Devils mid-season until the end of the 2021-22 campaign. He arrived in England after leaving the role of sporting director at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Renowned for handling recruitment and sporting development at multiple clubs, the German failed to improve on-field matters at Manchester United from the dugout. He guided a disjointed squad to a sixth-place finish in the Premier League at the end of May this year.
Speaking to Austrian daily Der Standard, Rangnick shed light on how long it took him to identify the troubles at Old Trafford last year. He said:
"As a coach or sports director, it's about being able to develop things and minimising the chance factor as much as possible. That you develop a team in a direction where you use game control and a certain type of football to create significantly more chances than you allow the opponent to have."
He continued:
"It would not have taken Manchester United six months to do that. After just two weeks it was clear to me where the problems were and what would have to be done to fix them – but the question is whether you have the option of changing these things."
Rangnick was expected to stay with the Premier League giants in an advisory role this season but the club cut ties with him before the start of the 2022-23 campaign and took up the head coach position at the Austrian national team. So far, new boss Erik ten Hag has registered two wins and two losses in his first four matches in charge.
Manchester United will next lock horns with a dwindling Leicester City at the King Power Stadium on September 1. The Foxes sit bottom of the Premier League table with one draw and three losses in four games.
Manchester United target Frenkie de Jong to stay at Barcelona this summer
According to CBS Sports journalist Ben Jacobs, Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong is set to stay at Camp Nou this summer after an extended stand-off between the two parties. Taking to Twitter, he wrote:
"Frenkie de Jong is expected to get his wish and stay at Barcelona. As previously reported, Manchester United have all but given up. No significant new offensive to sign him has taken place. Chelsea haven't made any further progress either. Liverpool looking elsewhere."
De Jong, who has four years left on his contract at the Camp Nou, was on the radar of the Red Devils for over three months. However, the 25-year-old was reluctant to depart the Blaugrana, partly due to his deferred salary worth £17 million, which stalled a potential deal.
