MANCHESTER UNITED’s board blocked transfers for the likes of Erling Haaland and Luis Diaz, former interim manager Ralf Rangnick has claimed.
Rangnick, 64, was temporarily placed in charge of Man Utd until the end of last season following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking last November.
And the German was left short in the forwards department after Anthony Martial left the club on loan for Sevilla and Mason Greenwood was suspended indefinitely by the club.
That left United relying on Cristiano Ronaldo, 37, who provided the goods when they needed him, to the tune of 24 goals across all competitions.
Nonetheless, additional support would’ve helped United’s push for a top-four finish, which they narrowly missed out on last term, coming in at sixth.
Rangnick has since told Bild journalist Christian Falk that he tried to sign a forward in the January transfer window.
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Names such as now Manchester City ace Haaland, Liverpool’s Diaz, RB Leipzig’s Christopher Nkunku, Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic and Alavaro Morata were all recommended.
A defensive reinforcement in Josko Gvardiol was also put forward, but the club refused to seal any winter transfers.
Rangnick confirmed in May that the club didn’t try for a forward late on in January.
He said: “The answer at the time was no there was no player on the market that could really help us – there were a few, Diaz who is now at Liverpool, Alvarez who will be at Manchester City in the summer, Vlahovic who at the time still was with Fiorentina those are just three of them that come across my mind now.
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“We had four days off at the time and on the Sunday I was informed about the issues with Mason Greenwood and obviously Anthony Martial had already left and then I was aware that within four days we had some strikers missing and it might make sense, we were still in three competitions – Champions League, FA Cup and fourth in the league but that’s the past and it doesn’t help us anymore.
“I spoke to the board and said shouldn’t we at least speak and try and analyse if we could get a player either on loan or as a permanent deal but in the end the answer was no.
“I still believe that we should have at least tried, if we would’ve found and been able in 48 hours, 48 hours is short notice but it’s still 48 hours, it might have been worth to try and internally discuss but we didn’t and it was not done.”
The form since of Diaz at Liverpool and in particular Haaland at Manchester City will have Manchester United fans wondering what could have been had Rangnick been backed in January.
The Red Devils did splurge over the summer, backing new manager Erik ten Hag in the market.
Antony and Lisandro Martinez were signed from Ajax in big money moves.
Meanwhile Casemiro came in from Real Madrid and Tyrell Malacia joined from Feyenoord.
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Christian Eriksen also arrived at the club on a free transfer.
Like where they finished last season, Manchester United currently find themselves sixth in the table.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
