Reds ready to ‘rip up recruitment plans’
RALF Rangnick believes United are ready to rip up their approach to recruitment and start again after holding talks with the board.
The 63-year-old will take charge of his final game today as United face Crystal Palace, with Erik ten Hag officially replacing Rangnick on Monday.
But the German will then begin a two-year consultancy contract and much of that work is expected to revolve around recruitment, an area Rangnick specialises in.
He excelled as director of football for the Red Bull network of clubs and has had a successful recruitment strategy wherever he has been.
As a manager at United he has struggled, with just 11 wins in his 28 games, but he has observed a squad built without a clear philosophy in mind.
That is expected to change with the arrival of Ten Hag and Rangnick believes the club are ready to change their recruitment structure.
“For me it’s obvious it should and will happen and also very positive from all the conversations I’ve had that the board is willing to do that,” he said.
“There will be changes [this summer], obviously there will be players who will be leaving because their contracts have expired so there will be space for new players. We also spoke about the last transfer window in January where the board, and we, decided not to sign any players so this is different now.
“In this window there will be some new players, he [Ten Hag] will also have some influence on which kind of player he wants and yes, that will happen in this window and hopefully the next two windows and I think it’s obvious to everybody for the owners, the board and every supporter we need to increase and raise the level of quality within the squad.”
Rangnick is confident United can achieve success within a couple of years if they have two successful summer transfer windows – as long as players are signed to fit Ten Hag’s style of play.
“Yes, I strongly believe that and I know that from my own experience [success can be achieved in two windows],” he said.
“You can only find what you need if you know what you are looking for and you need to know that in advance.
“This again also depends on how does Erik wants to play. If you saw Ajax play or his U23 team at Bayern Munich it’s pretty obvious how he wants to play and for me it’s also clear what kind of players he needs to help him to be successful.”