Ralf Rangnick tells Manchester United to change transfer strategy to catch Man City

Ralf Rangnick has told Manchester United they must improve their record in the transfer market if they are to close the gap on Manchester City.

United have spent more than £1billion since Sir Alex Ferguson retired nine years ago and, while they are still capable of matching City on the day, they are about to spend a ninth successive season marooned below the club Ferguson once branded the "noisy neighbours".

Rangnick believes much of that is down to the lack of continuity and planning at Old Trafford, despite being able to rouse themselves to claim significant results in one-off games.

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United will be looking for a fourth successive victory at the Etihad this weekend and have beaten Pep Guardiola's side six times since the Catalan arrived — a record matched only by Tottenham.

On Sunday it will be Rangnick's turn to try and plot a course to victory in 90 minutes, but come the summer it will almost certainly be someone else who is handed the task of overhauling City across 38 games rather than two.

But why is this team good enough to take City on in individual games but not consistent enough to maintain it from August to May? "This would be a long answer and take too much of our time," explains Rangnick, but the interim manager still found the time to outline the fundamental issue that has held United back in the nine years since Ferguson retired and, perhaps more importantly given his role will move to the back office this summer, how it can be changed.

The short answer is continuity, in the dugout and the transfer market. "Pep has been there for almost six years, he came in 2016, Jurgen [Klopp] in 2015 to Liverpool, it’s a question of continuity,