Ralf Rangnick is proving Cristiano Ronaldo wrong as Manchester United interim 'close' to Bayern Munich job

When Ralf Rangnick left Manchester United two years ago, few people saw the German going on to get many bigger jobs in football.

Rangnick had a six-month stint as United's interim manager during the 2021-22 season, his highest-profile job after a career that had also seen him take charge of Ulm, Stuttgart, Hannover, Hoffenheim, Schalke and RB Leipzig.

The 65-year-old famously stated United needed 'open-heart surgery' to addresses their plethora of problems, and two years later they are still under the knife, while Rangnick has rebuilt his career by transforming the Austria national team and is reportedly ‘very close’ to being appointed the next Bayern Munich manager.

Erik ten Hag held a two-hour phone call with Rangnick ahead of his official arrival at the club, in which it was decided to scrap his planned consultancy role. It would be fascinating to see how things would have ended up had he stuck around. Ten Hag wasn't a fan of the scathing assessments the interim manager had publicly given on the club, and he wasn't the most popular figure among the United squad either. You only have to ask Cristiano Ronaldo that.

In his explosive interview with Piers Morgan, the Portuguese football legend savaged Rangnick and explained why he was never the right choice to lead United at their time of need. “Of course, I respect we have to call him boss because he assumed the job regardless - all the coaches that I had in my career, I call them boss because if they assume the job we have to call them in that way," he told Talk TV.

"But deep inside me, I never saw him as the boss because I saw some points that I never agreed with and he's stopping the time as well because if you're not being a coach, then the next five years you're going to lose the identity of, to be a coach, so it surprised me a lot. But in the same way it doesn’t surprise me a lot because if you see the structures, they keep them the same. So the coaches didn't surprise me but, it was a tough moment, not only for me, but for the rest of the players."

“For example we have an interesting point that, how the club as Manchester United after sack Ole, they bring in sports director Rangnick, which is something that nobody understands. This guy is not even a coach. A bigger club like Manchester United bringing in a sports director - it surprised not only me but all the world, you know.

“Of course, in my opinion. We have to be honest, if you're not even a coach, how are you going to be the boss of Manchester United? It's something that I should say that Manchester is not followed. Not the right way to reach success - like other teams for example, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, they are one step behind or two because of these kind of mistakes that."

Bayern Munich obviously see things differently.