It’s summer transfer window silly season, and that means it’s time to do some Manchester United transfer talk, starting with their former interim manager Ralf Rangnick. It was thought that he would stay at the club, in the consultancy role, beyond his stint as caretaker boss, and assume the Austrian National Team job at the same time.
Turns out, he’ll just coach the Austrian team, and abandon the United gig. He won’t be assisting new manager Erik ten Hag after all.
A statement from the Premier League club said: “We would like to thank Ralf Rangnick for his efforts as interim manager over the past six months. By mutual agreement, Ralf will now focus solely on his new role as manager of the Austria national team and will not therefore be taking up a consultancy role at Old Trafford.
“We would like to wish Ralf the best of luck in this next chapter of his career.”
Elsewhere, we go back to a transfer narrative that we’ve covered before- Chelsea midfield maestro N’Golo Kante. The Frenchman is immensely talented and tremendously accomplished, but he’s also extremely injury-prone.
Blues boss Thomas Tuchel even addressed this issue, directly, after the season wound down. But United will press on anyway, according to The Guardian. The publication writes of Old Trafford being “desperate to strengthen their midfield after underperforming last season, are keen to find out whether the France international could be sold this summer.”
So we’ll see if this actually goes anywhere. Most likely it probably won’t.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.