Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester interim manager Ralf Rangnick speaks about the impending departure of midfielder Nemanja Matic
Speaking in his pre-match conference ahead of the visit to Liverpool tonight, as quoted by the club’s official website, Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick spoke about the impending departure of midfielder Nemanja Matic at the end of the season.
Last Friday, Matic took to social media to publicly announce that he would be leaving the club in the summer after spending five long years at Old Trafford. The Serbian said that had decided that the current campaign would be his last with United.
Rangnick reacted to the news by saying that he had spoken to the midfielder on Friday evening before the game, and although there was an option in his contract to renew his deal, the player opted against it and has decided to go elsewhere in the next chapter of his career.
“We had also spoken on Friday evening in the hotel before the game. He didn’t do anything wrong. For the next year there was an option in the contract. It was optional for both the club and for the player to decide if he wants to stay here and he decided after, I don’t know, five years of being here, to now go elsewhere.”
The 33-year-old joined the Red Devils in 2017 from rivals Chelsea, following his then-manager Jose Mourinho to the Theatre of Dreams, after having worked together previously with the Blues. Although Mourinho would depart in 2019, Matic stayed on – until this summer, that is.
“He did well”
The ex-Benfica man was last seen in our 3-2 win against Norwich City over the weekend, coming on as a second-half substitute at the hour mark to provide some stability to the midfield after the Canaries managed to level the game at 2-2 up until then.
Rangnick believed that despite Matic’s impending exit from the club, the player would put all his efforts into giving the best possible performances and that whenever he has let the Serb play, he has done well on the pitch.
“Knowing Nema, he will be a player until the very, very last day he’s here. He will put all the effort into the best possible performance. In the last [few] games, whenever I let him play, and when he has got game time, he did well.”
Matic is perhaps the only natural defensive midfielder we have in our squad, which means that his exit in the summer would force us to look for other options to replace him in the transfer market. Scott McTominay has tried his hand at playing that role, but has not been convincing enough on the pitch.
Our midfield has been a weak point in the team for the past couple of years, and yet the club have not made any moves to sign a quality defensive midfield star. With Matic departing soon, perhaps the Red Devils will be forced to dip into the transfer market and look for options.
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Whenever Matic has played for us in midfield, we have looked more structured and stable on the defensive side of things. His experience has played its part in this. However, at 33, his age seems to have caught up with his legs, and he has not been the same midfield enforcer we knew him to be earlier in his career.
For now, we may expect to see the Serbian take to the field once again at Anfield tonight, given that our first-choice midfielders McTominay and Fred have been ruled out of the game. All eyes will be on the team sheet tonight to see if Rangnick picks the experienced star to start the game.
