Rudi Garcia reveals he was close to Manchester United hot seat to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer
Rudi Garcia, the current manager of Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, has revealed he was close to replacing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the Manchester United dugout last year. The Norwegian was sacked after the team’s poor performances in the previous campaign.
However, in the end, the Red Devils got Ralf Rangnick to take charge. The interim head coach was unable to steady the ship and left his role at the end of last season.
Speaking to Spanish outlet AS (h/t Manchester Evening News), Garcia disclosed that he met with John Murtough and Darren Fletcher. The French head coach was looking forward to working at the Old Trafford side.
“I think that any coach would be delighted to train a great star like Cristiano and already in November 2021 I was very close to going to United. They chose Ralf Rangnick, but I met twice with John Murtough and Darren Fletcher
“I came very close to coaching this club and was very motivated to go, who wouldn’t be motivated to coach United? Any coach.”
Garcia has been around the block for quite some time. He has managed top teams like LOSC Lille, Olympique Marseille and Olympique Lyon in France. The Al Nassr head coach has also taken charge of AS Roma in Italy.
In the 2010/11 season, Garcia won the Ligue 1 title and the Coup de France with Lille. He also managed to take Marseille to the Europa League final in 2018. In June this year, the French manager moved to the Saudi outfit.
After Rangnick failed to make a mark at United, the Red Devils appointed Erik ten Hag. The Dutch manager had a shaky start to life in Manchester, losing his first two competitive fixtures in charge of the team.
However, the former Ajax head coach has managed to steer the ship in the right direction since. We have looked solid under him.
Ten Hag has also managed to improve some of our players. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, who were poor in the previous campaign, have seemingly found their feet under the Dutch manager.
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We are currently fifth in the Premier League and still alive in the Europa League. Hopefully, Ten Hag is able to bring back success to the Theatre of Dreams.
