Erik ten Hag has admitted Ralf Rangnick was ‘absolutely right’ about Manchester United needing ‘open-heart surgery’ in order to get back on track.
Ten Hag took the reins at Old Trafford in the summer of 2022 following a seven-month interim spell under Rangnick.
The German coach — who is now at the helm of the Austrian national team — won just 11 of his 29 matches in charge of the Red Devils and at the end of his spell, stated that ‘open-heart surgery’ was required to fix Man Utd’s problems.
Ten Hag certainly hasn’t had it all his own way, slipping to eighth in the Premier League last season. However, the Dutchman has won EFL Cup and FA Cup titles, beating Manchester City in the final to lift the latter.
And he has admitted Rangnick’s comments were correct.
“Rangnick was absolutely right,” Ten Hag told Dutch newspaper AD Sportwereld.
“We have been working very hard on this for two years, but he said it exactly right: it is a thorough, very complex operation. And I knew when I started that it was going to be a tough job.”
Ten Hag was also quizzed about Man Utd’s reported interest in Netherlands international defender Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich.
De Ligt played 70 times under Ten Hag during their Ajax days and the manager has openly admitted he previously wanted to bring him to Old Trafford.
“It remains to be seen whether De Ligt will come,” Ten Hag admitted.
“Of course I know Matthijs well, I’m not going to deny that. I wanted to sign him two years ago, but he had already gone a long way with Bayern Munich.”
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