Former Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick has labelled the club “significantly worse” since his tenure and the massive spend which has taken place in that time.
Rangnick spent a short spell at Old Trafford during the 2021/22 season as caretaker boss. He won 1.45 points per game, which is not a very impressive feat, while he suggested the club needed “open-heart surgery” to fix some problems.
Since then, United have spent huge money but gone backwards, something not lost on Rangnick.
“In the end. That a few basic things need to be changed and since then 700 or if not £750m has been spent on new players. And in the table they are even significantly worse than back then,” he told Canal + Austria.
“They could actually, with a win in the Europa League, still save this season. Because then they will be in the Champions League.
“Everything else would be a disappointment, and it will be interesting to see what will happen. They have signed a coach in the middle of the season who plays with a three or a five-back, and the squad was built based on a four-back system.
“This is what you see when you see them play, especially in Premier League games against the opponents against which Manchester United normally has to win.
“Sure, in the Europa League, they have – usually with the result against Lyon, you are eliminated – they have turned it around. And of course, the stadium had a huge effect.”
In the summer window prior to the 2024/25 season, United splashed around £180million, and followed that up with a spend of another £25million or so in the January window, Ruben Amorim’s first since taking over from Erik ten Hag.
But they have been in the bottom half of the Premier League for almost the entire season, currently sitting 14th. The end of Rangnick’s season at the helm saw United finish sixth, which was only the third time they’d finished that low in eight years.
While the Austrian’s spell at the club was not a particularly good one, things have clearly gone from bad to worse.
United have been linked with some big names in the summer, and they’ll need some of those signings to get back to competing in the top half of the league.
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