Manchester United consider changing plan for interim boss Ralf Rangnick

Manchester United have put their plans to hire a new permanent manager on hold with Ralf Rangnick said to be impressing influential members of the club’s hierarchy.

The German was appointed as the interim replacement for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following the Norwegian’s sacking just over two months ago after a dismal run of results that culminated in a 4-1 defeat at Watford.

Initially, the plan was for Rangnick to take charge of the first team until the end of the season before moving into a consultancy role, akin to the positions he held at Red Bull Leipzig and CSKA Moscow.

The 63-year-old has steadied the ship to such an extent, however, that United are now in pole position to secure fourth place in the Premier League following last Saturday’s last-gasp win over West Ham.

Overall, Rangnick has presided over a run of five wins in eight matches in all competitions and appears to have solved several of the issues that led to his predecessor’s downfall.

Defensively, United are a far more solid outfit than they were during the latter period of Solskjaer’s reign with four clean sheets in 10 games representing an impressive record.

United chiefs are also said to have been impressed with the way in which Rangnick dealt with the fallout of Cristiano Ronaldo’s strop at Brentford last week after the 36-year-old took issue with being substituted late on.

Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag had emerged as the outstanding candidates to succeed Rangnick on a full-time basis but, according to the The Sun, the German has impressed to such an extent that he is now being considered for the top job.

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