Ralf Rangnick Declares Manchester United Can Still Attract The Best Players

The interim Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick believes the club will still be able to bring the best players in the world to Old Trafford next season even if they are unable to offer them Champions League football.

After consecutive defeats to Liverpool and Arsenal in their last two fixtures, United are now highly unlikely to qualify for a place in Europe’s leading club competition.

United are currently sixth, and six points behind fourth-placed Arsenal, who have a game in hand and a superior goal difference over them.

Even so United’s German manager remains bullish about their appeal in the transfer market in the forthcoming window. “This club is an attractive club and with a new manager, a new approach and the way he wants to play, this is still a massively interesting club,” Rangnick said in his press conference on Wednesday.

“I’m looking forward to helping Erik [ten Hag] and everybody at the club to get the best and change the whole approach next season so that Man United can be a top club again.”

“It would be better if we played Champions League next season, but this also affects other clubs. This is not a problem that only Manchester United has, [and] the renewal of the contract of Bruno [Fernandes] showed that it’s still possible.”

United have four remaining Premier League games to play this season, starting with Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford on Thursday.

“The next two games are at home at Old Trafford and obviously we will try to get as many points and win as many games as we possibly can out of those last four games, and, yes in order to do that we need to play on the best level. We know Chelsea is a good team but we know that if we play well it’s possible to win the game tomorrow.”

“I don’t think it makes sense now to still speak or speculate about the Champions League. We need to be realistic. Even if we win all four games, it’s still not in our own hands, but what is in our own hands is the way that we play, the level of our performance, and even for next season, I think it’s important to finish this season on the best possible note.”

United will be missing several players against Chelsea, including Edinson Cavani, Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw, Fred, Harry Maguire, and Jadon Sancho, which prompted a question about whether Rangnick was ready to give opportunities to his young players.

“Well, it’s possible,” he said. “We have quite a few players missing, and one or two still with question marks, so we will have to wait and see. I already played Hannibal at Liverpool, so it’s possible, but we also have to be fair enough to those players.”

“It has to be the right moment and they should have a chance to play well so it’s not just pushing them into a game. I think it should be the right moment.”

“We will play the best possible team of those players that are available. Right now it seems we have 14 of our own professional team without the youngsters that are available, and probably three or four of those young players will be part of the squad.”

Rangnick acknowledged the spirit inside the United squad has been affected by their recent form, which has seen them lose three of their last four games.

“This always means that the morale or the energy in the locker room is not as good as it would be if we had won those four games,” he said. “But still we have to perform. This is what we are getting paid for.”

“This is also important for the players…they also now know who the new manager will be. They have to perform and to show in front of 75,000 fans that we are able to beat a team like Chelsea. This is our job.”