Manchester United Not Considering Ralf Rangnick As New Permanent Manager

Manchester United have no intention of offering their interim manager Ralf Rangnick the position on a permanent basis for next season.

Despite the German coach’s promising start at Old Trafford, there has been no change to the United board’s plan for him to step aside in May and take up a new role as a consultant at the club.

United have been greatly impressed with Rangnick’s ideas, his approach around the club and most of all his relative success on the pitch where they point to the fact he has lost just once in his first 12 Premier League games.

He has gained further admiration with how he has dealt with the disruption caused by the Covid-19 outbreak in December, the busy Christmas period, the immediate loss of two coaches Kieran McKenna and Michael Carrick, and a raft of other issues.

But his reign is not expected to extend beyond the end of this season, and for the moment, he does not feature on United’s shortlist for their new manager.

It had been thought if Rangnick sufficiently impressed during his six months in charge he could become a viable candidate, but this is not the case.

In his first press conference last December, Rangnick was asked if he would be interested in becoming the club’s permanent manager.

“I am fully aware they might be looking for a new manager, [and] if they then speak with me about that, we will see,” he replied.

“Maybe if they ask my opinion and everything goes well I might make the same recommendation that I did at RB Leipzig twice, that it might be a good idea to keep working with me for one year, but it is all hypothetical.”

But sources at United have said this was more of a misconstrued joke by Rangnick, and he is fully aware his role was only ever meant to be temporary.

Rangnick will have an advisory role in the search for the new manager, which is now getting underway in earnest at Old Trafford.  

A United source has described the names on the shortlist as “logical” and at the moment there are no surprising potential managers on it.

It is understood the leading candidates remain the Paris Saint-Germain manager Mauricio Pochettino and the Ajax manager Erik ten Hag.

United would like to make an announcement before the end of the season, but this might not be possible with most of the candidates currently employed.