ESPN correspondent Stephan Uersfeld says Ralf Rangnick has “reached his goal” following his appointment as interim manager at Manchester United.
Rangnick has never managed outside of Germany during a coaching career which has spanned across four decades.
The 63-year-old guided FC Schalke to the Champions League semi-finals in 2011 and also won the DFB-Pokal in the same season.
Although Rangnick has never managed outside his homeland, he is revered for his role as director of football for Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig.
He has been a very attractive prospect for English clubs for many years and Uersfeld is excited by his appointment.
“Rangnick is one of Germany’s most influential coaches, although he’s never picked up any silverware,” Uersfeld said.
“He developed several clubs and won promotion with even more. He’s someone who loves to control on and off the pitch and he’s influenced many of the Germans already in the Premier League.
“Over two stints at Leipzig, he also was in a similar role, leading the club from one coach to another, whilst not failing to reach the high goals set.
Jurgen Klopp described Ralf Rangnick’s arrival at Manchester United as bad news for the rest of the Premier League.
The Liverpool manager is just one of a multitude of top level managers who’ve been heavily influenced by the new United interim manager.
His role as director of football at Red Bull Salzburg also heralded a conveyer belt of young coaches and former Austria youth coach Andreas Heraf praises Rangnick for benefitting Austrian football.
“Salzburg do really good work,” Heraf said. “The style that they play is the same in Salzburg as it is in Leipzig. They play really good football, especially in Salzburg because its not so easy because they lose all their best players. Every single year they go to Leipzig or Liverpool but every single year they get new talent from all over the world.
“When Red Bull bought the club, they tried to sign famous coaches like Giovanni Trapattoni and Co Adriaanse. Then when Rangnick came in, they switched to mainly German coaches, who started to bring success.
“There are many examples. Bo Svensson was in charge of FC Liefering, who are the second team, and now he’s doing great things at FSV Mainz. Frank Kramer was the head of the academy and is currently managing Arminia Bielefeld. Marco Rose was also their under-19 coach, before spending two years managing the first team. He did a great job at Borussia Monchengladbach and took over Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
“They have a clear philosophy and a clear plan. It’s really impressive what they do and the Red Bull era has definitely benefitted the Austrian national team.”
Rangnick has made it very clear that he is prepared to build for the long-term at Man United. His work with Red Bull is a clear indicator that Rangnick is perfectly qualified to slip into an advisory role after his interim role ends in June, which is very similar to the type of thing he did at RB Leipzig.
Mauricio Pochettino has been earmarked as United’s first choice to take over on a permanent basis in the summer, although the Paris Saint-Germain manager insists he’s still happy in France.
“It is not us, nor the club, who generate these situations. It does not affect us,” Pochettino said ahead of his side’s clash with Saint-Etienne.
“I am focused on PSG. We are used to rumours arriving. When they do arrive, it is a good sign that there are many of them – it is a sign we are doing good work.”
Ajax manager Erik Ten Hag has also been heavily linked with the managerial post at Old Trafford but his stance is very similar to Pochettino.
“My focus is on Ajax, the rest only distracts,” Ten Hag said last week. “I expect from my players that they are focused on Ajax, so I have to give the right example for that too.
“You keep asking me [about my position as Ajax manager], yes it’s a weird question. I’ve heard nothing about it, so I can’t think about it.”
