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Graeme Souness gives scathing verdict on Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United move, hits out at ‘catastrophic’ management, and says Jonny Evans ‘better than any centre-half they have now’
Graeme Souness admitted he is baffled by Manchester United bringing in Ralf Rangnick as interim manager.
Rangnick was confirmed by the Premier League side until the end of the season, which will then be followed by two years in a consultancy role.
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It follows the departure of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a disastrous run of results that sees United well out of the Premier League title race.
Liverpool legend Souness admitted he did not get why Rangnick was coming into Old Trafford, while also suggesting they would have been better off keeping Jonny Evans instead of selling him in 2015 and subsequently splashing out on Harry Maguire.
“This is the third interim manager since Fergie went. I don’t get it,” Souness told talkSPORT before the appointment was confirmed.
“The man Rangnick’s CV is not one you would go ‘wow’ and doesn’t jump out at you. He’s not been super successful. I think he’s won one trophy.
“His talent would appear, and we will find out, to go into a football club and develop the structure and improve in a five to ten year period.
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“That’s not what Man United need right now. Man United need it instantly. They need someone to make an impact now.
“They’ve got a healthy group of players there and, there’s no doubt about it, Ole didn’t get the best out of that group of players.
“That’s what you are judged on. You walk into a football club, get the best out of the players and then if you are there long enough you can bring your own ones in to kick on.
“Right now, Manchester United have an underperforming squad of players.
“Will this new guy, who has never been in the Premier League be able to do that? I don’t think so.
“I don’t get this appointment on any level. If you are thinking about five or ten years time and the structures he might put in place [okay], [but it’s] six months and then he’s going to take a nice consultancy role. A nice pension for him, 63 years old, it’s lovely work if you can get it.
“I just don’t get this appointment.”
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Souness also launched into rant about the club’s recruitment over recent years in regards to both player sales and signings.
He added: “I look at Manchester United without having any inside detail on how they work. I don’t see anyone putting their hand up and saying ‘I signed him, he’s my player’.
“I don’t see anyone taking responsibility.
“The thing you have to get right at a football club is recruitment and since Fergie went it has been a masterclass in how to get it wrong.
“That’s how I see it. You look at the players they’ve brought in, the players they’ve sold.
“Jonny Evans was allowed to leave. Jonny Evans is better than any centre-half they have now. I just don’t get it.
“The players they buy and the players they sell, giving people like [Anthony] Martial, who was in the last chance saloon two or three years ago, a new contract.
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“Mata is a really nice human being, but what is he offering to them on the pitch. I just don’t get who is making the football decisions and they seem to be getting them wrong consistently.
“Manchester United, this majestic football club, are sinking.”
Souness also took aim at the club’s hierarchy for the way United have been managed over recents years following the end of the Sir Alex Ferguson era.
He said: “Man United are possibly the biggest football club in the world when you factor in success, turnover, supporters they have.
“Right now, they must be hurting. I know people think because of my Liverpool connections I will be relishing it, but I go to Man United and recognise what a special football club it is.
“I think they are being mismanaged and I’m not just talking about Ole, Mourinho before that and Van Gaal, I’m not talking about those guys.
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“Above them, the management has been catastrophic and that is why they find themselves in this situation.”
Rangnick will not take charge against Arsenal on Thursday, but he now does have a work visa and will be in the dugout for the Premier League game against Crystal Palace on Sunday.
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