Ralf Rangnick’s influence in modern football can hardly be exaggerated. The current Austria national coach is seen as an inspiration for the most popular German coaches Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann. He was the first to introduce the now famous gegenpressing (counter-pressing) style but his work with young players and setting up the youth and sporting sector in the Red Bull ‘family’ (Salzburg and Leipzig) is equally impressive. Nowadays, when Rangnick speaks, people tend to listen carefully. At least it was the case in the clubs he worked for, but even the clubs he didn’t work at all (Barcelona for example). All but one – Manchester United.🔴 𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐀 𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓 | Ralf Rangnick: “Hacía mucho tiempo que no veía al Barcelona jugar así..” pic.twitter.com/kF0Vd0efGj— Diario SPORT (@sport) June 22, 2025 The Red Devils hired Rangnick (one of their best moves since 2013), but not only did he fail to change anything while being interim coach, he also left the club after only six months, even it was agreed for him to stay as a consultant for a further two years. And now, after an interview for Spanish ‘Sport’, we might get the idea why he choose so. In a lengthy conversation, he mentioned the mood in United while he was there.“I think we have to go back to 2013, when Sir Alex left the club. And at the time he was still there, he was the mastermind behind it all. He probably also brought a lot of important people to the club. And the moment he left, some of those people probably left the club as well. And, since then, I think they have a leadership problem. Who’s really making the decisions and why are they making them? Are they really the best people for the job? I can only tell you that the six months I was there, it was difficult to say, even for me as head coach. Who were the decision-makers? Who? Who could I talk to? If we wanted to sign new players, it was difficult. There were people, but in the end, it was difficult” said the Austrian coach.United didn’t listen to Ranginck’s advices, but City didThe main philosophy of the 66-year old manager is to sign young players (up to 24 years) and develop them, the opposite of what Manchester did. He gave an example of what not to do if you are the club’s executive, and even he didn’t name names, his example very much looks like Casemiro’s transfer from Real to Old Trafford.“If I were the owner or sporting director of a club, I would only try to sign and invest in young players. Because no matter how you look at it, it only makes sense. Does it make sense to spend 30, 40, 50 million on a 28- or 30-year-old signing? Not really. Let’s calculate it. You sign a 28- or 30-year-old with a five-year contract. You spend 50 million more on the transfer fee, an average of 15 million euros per year multiplied by five. That’s 65 million plus the 50 million transfer fee equals 115 million, plus the agents’ fees. The whole operation costs you around 130 million” he explained.🚨| Rangnick has discussed four suggestions to the #MUFC to fix the problems at the club:• Recruiting players to a manager style.• Recruiting physical and agressive players.• Profiling player DNA• Could take up to 3 transfer windows for right plan.[@TelegraphDucker] pic.twitter.com/JkFDROF66P— UtdActive (@UtdActive) April 3, 2022 He went further on to explain United’s mistakes before giving support to Ruben Amorim.“And since I left, they’ve spent 700, 800 million pounds and the team finished fifteenth. They’ve changed coaches many times and that’s it. Now they’re sticking with Amorim, who’s a very good coach, and if in the end, it doesn’t work out, a new coach will come in again, with his new playing system or philosophy, and he’ll bring in a few more players… There has to be someone who decides on what planning, which coach will fit into the same system?” said Rangnick.Manchester coach claims he never had problems with SanchoTo be fair, the Austrian boss also thinks other clubs made mistakes, for example Bayern Munich, who brought Harry Kane for a big sum when the player was already 29 years old.“Bayern should have signed Harry Kane at 20. He scored a ton of goals, won the league title, and had a positive influence on the atmosphere in the dressing room. Yes, they won the German title, which is logical for Bayern, but they didn’t win the Cup. They didn’t win the Champions League. We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the next two years. I’m not saying it wasn’t a good signing, but my approach could be different. You have to sign a Harry Kane at 18 or 20, and then keep him as long as you can. That would be my approach. But again, each club has to decide for itself. You have to work to discover these types of players early. I would much rather have a club like the Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain squads” he said.Ronaldo wanted to demote Maguire, change tactics to his likingRangick also revealed that he spoke with Barcelona president Joan Laporta a few years ago and suggested to him that he should hire Hansi Flick and also explained that his philosophy concerning developing young players totally worked in the example of PSG, who won the Champions League with a revamped team.“They’ve been trying for 10 or 15 years, spending a lot of money. And now the biggest stars are gone. Not Kylian Mbappé, not Messi, not Neymar, and suddenly they win the Champions League. Coincidence? No. It happened like this. An example is Kvaratskhelia , who was 4-0 up, with 20 minutes left in the game, and he was still running 60 meters to win the ball back. I’ve never seen that with Neymar, Messi, or Mbappé. And that’s the strength of the team” he said.FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP 2025Matchday 3TuesdayInter Miami – Palmeiras 2-2 (1-0)/Allende 16, Suarez 65 – Paulinho 80, Mauricio 87/Porto – Al Ahly Cairo 4-4 (1-2)/Mora 23, Gomes 50, Aghehowa 53, Pepe 89 – Abou Ali 15, 45+2 pen, 51, Romdhane 64/22:00: (50.0) Auckland (25.0) Boca Juniors (1.01)22:00: (4.65) Benfica (3.20) Bayern (1.95)Wednesday04:00: (12.0) Esperance (5.40) Chelsea (1.28)04:00: (4.90) Los Angeles (3.60) Flamengo (1.75)22:00: (1.22) Dortmund (6.50) Ulsan (12.0)22:00: (4.10) Mamelodi (3.50) Fluminense (1.90)Thursday04:00: (1.90) Inter Milan (3.45) River Plate (3.80)04:00: (5.30) Urawa RD (3.60) Monterrey (1.70)22:00: (4.40) Juventus (3.50) Man.City (1.85)22:00: (2.55) Wydad Casablanca (3.35) Al Ain (2.75)Friday04:00: (1.48) Al Hilal (4.40) Pachuca (6.75)04:00: (9.00) Salzburg (5.90) Real Madrid (1.30)***odds are subject to change***
