Krishnan Sreekumar
Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick to present new manager Erik ten Hag information on the club’s faltering stars
According to the Mirror, Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick has been asked to hand incoming new manager Erik ten Hag information about the club’s underperforming players, after talks with director of football John Murtough and CEO Richard Arnold.
Rangnick will step down after his tenure as head coach expires in the summer, making way for ten Hag to take over at the club and continue the impressive work he has been doing at Ajax Amsterdam for the past couple of years.
The German is said to be astounded at the lack of professionalism in the squad, claiming that some players have refused to listen to his instructions and that many of the stars are ‘not fit for purpose.’ The 63-year-old is of the opinion that United need hungry and young players who are willing to match up to the club’s rivals, and avoid signing big-name stars for a short-term fix.
Rangnick is planning to give the incoming new boss a dossier of information regarding the state of affairs at the club, which the former RB Leipzig manager believes is dire. He has privately branded the United dressing room as ‘selfish, over-inflated, lacking quality, and too powerful.’
Brutal assessment of first-team squad
The interim manager has picked holes across all areas of the squad, but it is perhaps the defence that faces the most flak from him. He is said to have looked down on the qualities of defenders Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Eric Bailly, and Phil Jones. What is most surprising is that he believes that under-fire club captain Harry Maguire cannot be written off, despite his poor performances all season. Rangnick has also doubted Victor Lindelof’s decisiveness and positioning in his assessment of the rearguard.
One promising point that the incumbent United boss believes is that Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho have a lot to improve upon, and it could be a job that ten Hag can handle himself. Rangnick thinks that the Dutchman can get more out of the two forwards, and is insistent that the club need to invest in a main striker to lead the line. Currently, it is 37-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo who bears this responsibility, but it is not known how much longer will last at the top.
Evidently, there is a lot of work for ten Hag to ponder and solve in the summer, given the murderous assessment Rangnick has compiled about the current players. Luckily for the incoming manager, he has a full summer transfer window to try and resolve these issues.
This does not seem like an overnight fix either, so it is likely to take a few transfer windows to get around these problems. It will also take time for the Dutchman to put his vision and style of play across to the squad he is inheriting, and at the same time, also building.
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The big area of priority that Rangnick has marked out for ten Hag is the midfield, given that throughout the season, the German has been let down by the energy and physicality he has asked from his midfield options. At least two high-energy players are said to be required, along with a quality play-maker.
Evidently, the English club seems to be plagued by issues throughout the squad. Perhaps goalkeeping is the only area that the German has not criticised, and he does not have much scope to either, given how good David de Gea has been for the club. One thing is quite clear -if we do not address these problems soon, we may extend our current five-year trophy drought by a few more years.
