RANGNICK’S DOSSIER ON FLOP STARS
EXCLUSIVE BY STEVE BATES
RALF RANGNICK will present incoming boss Erik ten Hag with a shocking dossier of shame on every first-team Manchester United player.
After talks with director of football John Murtough and CEO Richard Arnold, the interim Old Trafford chief has been asked to hand Ten Hag a brutal no-holds-barred rundown on the players the Dutchman will inherit this summer.
Rangnick, 63, believes he’s been let down and hung out to dry by a dressing room he has privately branded “selfish, overinflated, lacking quality and too powerful”.
Senior sources inside United’s Carrington training ground say Rangnick has been staggered by the lack of professionalism among the firstteam squad.
And he claims some players have blatantly IGNORED his instructions when he’s given them a pattern of play to employ in certain games.
Rangnick has also told Murtough and Arnold that many of United’s players are “not fit for purpose” and physically cannot cope with high-energy opponents who run further, faster and harder.
And that’s why he’s told Arnold the club needs a clearout – and an influx of hungry, young players.
The highly respected Rangnick, who has managed Schalke, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, told staff at the club he believes United legend and TV pundit Gary Neville is right in his assessment that this Red Devils team is “broken”.
Rangnick’s damning verdict on the current United squad will make bleak reading for 52-year-old Ten Hag.
The interim boss doesn’t rate defenders Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones and is unsure about Victor Lindelof’s decisiveness and positioning.
In midfield, Rangnick reckons United need two hard-running, high-energy recruits plus a playmaker.
He believes Harry Maguire has carried the can for a series of inept defensive displays by the team but feels United’s £80million investment is so substantial the club can’t simply write off the England centre-back.
In attack, Rangnick believes United have big problems despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s haul of goals this season.
He’s banking on Ten Hag getting more from Marcus Rashford and £72m winger Jadon Sancho – but believes United still need a main striker, and that Anthony Martial, on loan at Sevilla, is unlikely to be the answer.
Rangnick, who will move upstairs to a consultancy role, is adamant United must address their problems – or face more years in the wilderness.