Manchester United’s Rangnick hits back at Van Gaal’s ‘commercial club’ jibe

Ralf Rangnick has dismissed Louis van Gaal’s criticism that Manchester United are a “commercial club” by pointing out that despite holding this opinion the Dutchman signed a contract to be manager in 2014.

Van Gaal’s comments came when discussing the candidacy of Erik ten Hag, the Ajax manager, who is on the shortlist to be United’s No 1 when Rangnick’s interim management ends in May. Van Gaal, who led United for two years, warned his compatriot to go to a “football club” rather than to Old Trafford.

“Louis himself as an experienced coach signed a contract here some years ago and he could have known that in advance if he had that opinion,” Rangnick said. “Football worldwide is a commercialised business that’s for sure.”

United’s spend under Van Gaal was more than £315m, part of a total £1.1bn outlay in the nine seasons since they were last champions. Rangnick stated that this was a benefit of commercial viability. “It’s always good if you have money available to sign players,” he said.

Rangnick did partly agree with Gary Neville, the former United captain and now Sky Sports pundit, who accused Rangnick, United players, and members of the executive of being “tone deaf” after they posted on social media and travelled to different global locations after being knocked out of the Champions League by Atlético Madrid on 15 March.

The defeat came four days before the Premier League matches and FA Cup quarter-finals that led into the international break, with United not involved in either.

“The situation was a particular one: we had two and a half weeks until the next game after Atlético [Leicester City on Saturday at home] including an international break, which meant we only had six or seven players for training,” Rangnick