Ralf Rangnick says he is ‘looking forward’ to working with Erik ten Hag and has discussed Harry Maguire’s role as Manchester United captain.
Ten Hag has been announced as the next permanent manager of the Red Devils and will take charge of the side from the summer, with interim boss Rangnick moving into an advisory position at Old Trafford.
The German has discussed Ten Hag’s imminent arrival and says he is looking forward to working alongside the Ajax manager next season, though says he has not yet had chance to discuss matters with the incoming manager.
“Yeah, I am looking forward to working in that advisory role and obviously help Erik as much as he wants it himself,” Rangnick told his pre-match press conference ahead of tonight’s clash with Chelsea.
“So far, we haven’t been able to speak with each other, we have had no contact. He has his focus on Ajax, I have my focus on Manchester United here. Obviously, I am more than willing and prepared to help both Erik and whomever in the club in order to change everything for the better.”
Rangnick was asked whether he had plans to talk with Ten Hag ahead of his arrival from Ajax, but admitted the Dutchman’s primary focus is on his current club until the end of the season.
“Yes, but as I said, his focus is on Ajax now and trying to win the title there, my focus for the next few weeks is on our club, on getting the best possible results, and whenever he has time, or would like to speak, yes I am available, but I would not want to contact him on my own account now.”
Ralf Rangnick has dismissed claims he has compiled a dossier on Manchester United's squad for Erik ten Hag in which he questions the players' professionalism as "completely untrue" 👇 pic.twitter.com/LBgJlm5OHu
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) April 28, 2022
One decision Ten Hag will make on his arrival is the appointment of the Manchester United captain, with Harry Maguire having come under criticism for his role and performances this season.
Rangnick said it is too soon to debate whether the centre-back will continue with the armband after being asked whether he would recommend Maguire remains captain, but believes the squad should have an input on who leads the side.
“Again, I understand your question, but again I think it doesn’t make sense because you don’t know which kind of players will be here, what the group will look like.
“I can only tell what I have done in the past when I was the head coach or the manager, because in Germany it’s called match kapitän, so the captain of the team.
“I strongly believe that the captain should be elected by the team because he’s called the team manager, and we always did that. We always had a board of four or five players, we called it the spielkapitän, elected by the players, the player with the highest amount of votes was the team captain at the end. That’s how I did it, I know that not a lot of head coaches do it that way.
“Yeah, so that’s what I would do if I was still the manager next season, but I’m not, so that is something for Erik to decide.”
Rangnick believes he has ‘tried’ everything to help the Red Devils finish the season strongly, but admitted he should not be immune from criticism following recent results which have all but ended the club’s hopes of Champions League football.
“I think I tried everything I can but this does not necessarily mean that I think we have done everything right obviously. Everybody has to question himself, the players, the staff, myself, what could we have done better in the past. This is part of our job and everybody has to be self-critical enough to do that, but as I said that, until four/five weeks ago, we still had all the chances to qualify for the Champions League. The results in the last four games, they were just not as good as we would have hoped for.”
