Erik ten Hag has already done what Ralf Rangnick couldn't with Manchester United's backroom staff
Erik ten Hag is the poster boy for the new era at Manchester United, but he isn't the only person tasked with transforming the club this summer.
United also appointed Andy O'Boyle as the club's inaugural deputy football director, with the Northern Irishman tasked with assisting John Murtough in his role, leaving more time and resources for the latter to focus on recruitment this summer.
Ralf Rangnick himself identified a need for a recruitment overhaul at Old Trafford, though he will not be a part of it, after it was mutually agreed that his new role with the Austrian national side would be too demanding.
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The 63-year-old has already made an impact in his new job, overseeing a convincing 3-0 win against World Cup runners-up Croatia in his first match, before falling to a 2-1 defeat against Denmark on Monday night.
“He has been really good,” Real Madrid's David Alaba told The Athletic. “You can see we have a really good plan and you can see it works for us on the pitch. He doesn’t want us to let the opponents breathe air. It is good for us.”
“What he did in the past is something special, and now I am seeing it close up. He showed what he can do at Leipzig, Salzburg and Hoffenheim. He didn’t have a lot of time in Manchester. He has a really good plan and knows a lot about football.”
Rangnick might not have been a success during his time at Old Trafford, but his immediate impact at international level certainly indicates that he wasn't the sole reason the team was so bad during his reign.
A key difference between Rangnick at United and Austria is the backroom staff he has, with former Lokomotiv Moscow assistant, Lars Kornetka,