Ralf Rangnick makes Manchester United transfer admission

Ralf Rangnick has blamed Manchester United's dismal recruitment record for their ongoing struggles.

United are certain to end a fifth consecutive campaign trophyless and are four points off the final Champions League qualifying place in the Premier League, with fourth-placed Arsenal four points ahead and with a game in hand.

The recruitment at United has been widely criticised dating back to Sir Alex Ferguson's final years when the club was reluctant to compete with rival bidders for eminent players. United rebooted their recruitment strategy as part of the ill-fated 'cultural reset' in 2019 yet their summer signings - Daniel James, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire - have not been successes.

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High-ranking sources at United conceded at the time their recruitment had been poor but they were targeting a 70% success rate, a figure they fell well below of during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's tenure when United signed 14 players.

Rangnick has an impressive track record in recruitment, primarily from his tenure as sporting director of the Red Bull group between 2012-20, and will commence a consultancy role at United from July 1.

"In the end, it’s about recruitment," Rangnick said of United's problems. "Having the right players, signing the right players at the right time, not signing wrong players at the wrong time. It’s pretty easy in football.

"It’s about having a recruitment process and what kind of players do we really need for which kind of football and what do we stand for and then again have the best possible manager to fit into that.

"I don’t know [why it has been an issue at United], I can only speak about the last four months and those four months we didn’t sign a player, we