Ralf Rangnick claims Man Utd have a 'leadership problem' as he accuses former club of 'betting' in transfer market

Manchester United endured their worst ever Premier League season last time out, finishing down in 15th place with just 11 wins from 38 games. The club also ended the season without a trophy and continue to look a long way off being able to challenge for the Premier League title.

Rangnick, who managed United between December 2021 and May 2022, famously said the Red Devils needed "open-heart surgery" to bring the glory days back to the club, and has now shared his thoughts on United's continued struggles. Rangnick highlighted the club's recent failures in the transfer market and also feels there is a lack of leadership at Old Trafford that has not been addressed since Sir Alex Ferguson departed over a decade ago in 2013.

He told Sport: "If I were the owner/sporting director, I would only try to sign and invest in young players because no matter how you look at it, it only makes sense. Does it make sense to spend a transfer fee of 30/40/50 million for a 30/28 year old? Let’s make that calculation. You sign a 30/28 year old, give him a five-year contract. You spend on average 15m/year on wages, times five, that’s 75m. The total is about 110/120m, then there are the agent fees. The whole deal is about 150m. For what?

“You’ll never get that money back. If you’re unlucky, in the last years of his contract, the player doesn’t even play anymore. The only thing you do if you do that is you invest in a possibly greater amount of success in the first few years. This is like a bet. I would never allow to do that, allow that to happen."

Rangnick also accused Manchester United of having a "leadership problem", adding: "Since I left, they have spent £700, £800 million and the team is 15th. They have changed coaches many times. Now there is still (Ruben) Amorim, who is a very good coach, but if in the end it doesn't work out, another coach will come, with his new system of play or philosophy, he will bring other players... And this brings us back to what we were saying at the beginning about Johan Cruyff. There has to be someone who decides what the planning is.

"I think we have to go back to 2013, when Sir Alex left the club. And when he was still there, he was the mastermind of everything. He probably also brought a lot of important people to the club. And when he left, some of those people probably left the club with him. Since then, I think the club has a leadership problem: who really makes the decisions and why do they make them?"

Signings are once again on the agenda at Old Trafford, with Matheus Cunha having arrived from Wolves and the Red Devils also aiming to bring in Bryan Mbeumo from Brentford. Ruben Amorim's side are also attempting to offload flops such as Jadon Sancho and Antony along with fellow attackers Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho ahead of the start of a new season.