Ralf Rangnick open to staying beyond summer as Manchester United manager

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Ralf Rangnick would be open to becoming Manchester United’s permanent manager should the club offer him the role in summer when his interim tenure ends.

The German has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, with the intention being that he stays in a consultancy role after this season.

Yet asked whether he would consider remaining as the long-term manager Rangnick said: “The people here have been very clear talking about a six-month role. We have never spoken about what happen in summer. Right now I’m fully aware they might be looking for a new manager. If they will then speak with me about that we will see.”

The 63-year-old then made joke about when he worked as sporting director for RB Salzburg and RB Leipzig: “Maybe if they ask my opinion and everything goes well and we develop the team I might even make the same recommendation to the board that I did at Leipzig twice when I recommended it might be a good idea to keep working with me for one year. But this is all hypothetical. We cannot speak about that. For me now it’s about winning the next games and this is the major focus.”

Rangnick also described as “nonsense” that he would earn a bonus if he were to sign Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland, who he worked with at RB Salzburg, and ruled out a move for the striker in January. “We have excellent offensive players here already,” Rangnick said.

Rangnick offered an insight into how he may advise the club as manager and consultant when criticising the transfer strategy since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in May 2013.

“The club has had no continuity in signing new players and sticking to the DNA of the club,” he said. “In the future, the board members and myself have the same opinion. It’s important not to have many changes in management.”

Rangnick’s first game is Sunday’s visit of Crystal Palace. He takes over a side three points behind West Ham in fourth, and 12 behind the leaders, Chelsea. Rangnick was at Thursday’s 3-2 win over Arsenal, a United display that was as uneven as over the past two months.

Rangnick said: “It’s obvious the squad has talent and experience. The challenge is to bring more balance into the team. Even yesterday we needed three goals to win the game. It’s almost two goals on average conceded per game and this is too much.

“Yesterday’s game was exciting for the fans but as the coach they are not the games you need every day. For me it is to minimise the coincidence factor and have control of the game.”

Rangnick has previously stated that he turned an offer from Chelsea to be the club’s interim manager because the players might view his temporary status as a weakness.

“At the time when Chelsea contacted me in February, we spoke only about the interim manager for four months, without any perspective to work in the long-term together,” he said. “Here now we are talking about six and a half months, so we only have one-third of the games played in the Premier League and, as you all know, we have agreed on a two-year advisory role after those six and a half months and in the end, to be honest, when a club like Manchester United contacts you for such a role you cannot possibly turn it down.

“It’s obviously the biggest club [I’ve been at]. But it’s one of if not the biggest club in the world. Of course it’s a massive challenge and I’m more than excited to work with the kind of players we have here. It’s a big challenge but I have also worked with other top star players. At Schalke it was a similar situation. I’m more than happy to work with this group of players.”

Source: The Guardian

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