Ralf Rangnick has told Manchester United to focus their efforts on signing young players ahead of his first transfer window in charge. The 63-year-old began work as the club’s interim manager this week and he will be in charge during the January transfer window, although as Rangnick has admitted doing business is difficult for elite clubs in the middle of the season.
Ralph Ragnick said: “One does not exclude the other. The team has, with Mason and Marcus, two players who are homegrown and have come from the youth ranks. It’s about recruitment but also at a club like Man United, with a top academy, we should make sure that every year we have one or two players who are good enough to make it into the first team. On the other hand, with signing players for transfer fees, it’s a question of what you want. If you pay big money for a 30-year-old and he’s still good enough to make you successful, I don’t mind that. But you have to be aware the money you invest is only being invested in the potential success over the next two or three years, you won’t get any return. This is where I always think it always makes more sense to sign a player at 21 or 22 and if you then have to pay a big fee, at least you have the chance to develop him into a player who is worth even more.”
Rangnick’s focus on youth led to him trying to sign Jadon Sancho for RB Leipzig when he was a 17-year-old at Manchester City. He met Sancho to try and convince him to join the club only for the winger to opt for a move to Borussia Dortmund instead. Now Rangnick will get to work with the 21-year-old and it’s expected Sancho will be one of the United players to benefit most of all from the new manager’s methods, with his form already improving in recent weeks.
Ralph Ragnick said: “I saw Jadon playing for England Under-19s in Portugal. At the time, I was there to watch Callum Hudson-Odoi. But in this game, Jadon was impressive and so I watched him in the next couple of games and then decided to try to sign him for Leipzig. He made the decision to join Dortmund and there he developed extremely well. It has been a tough adjustment for Jadon because the Premier League is so different, so much more difficult because of the physicality and the pressure of the game – especially so at Manchester United. For me, it is not that unusual that it has taken some time. But if I look at his development over the last few weeks – even against Arsenal when we were 3-2 up and he was working really hard to help the team to defend the win – then it’s clear that his trajectory is now going upwards.”
