United are said to already have a replacement for Solskjaer. Who is Ralf Rangnick?

On Thursday afternoon, social media was flooded with speculation that Manchester United had almost agreed a deal to the end of the season with sixty-three-year-old German coach Ralf Rangnick. Officially, United have not yet confirmed the news, but all is said to be close to a final agreement. Who is the unassuming German who has only coached in the Bundesliga so far?

Ralf Rangnick started his coaching career at the age of 25. His first success came in 1997 when he was approached by Ulm 1846, with whom he won the Southern German Regionalliga in his debut season as head coach.

After his initial success, Rangnick was approached by Stuttgart of the Bundesliga in 1999, with whom he won the Intertoto Cup a year later. The following year, however, he was recalled due to unsatisfactory results, and Hannover reached out to him, where he stayed until 2004.

After a season at Schalke, the German coach took over the then second division Hoffenheim in 2006, his longest coaching stint to date, which lasted five years. And even there he had considerable success, taking a team from a smaller village into the Bundesliga and managing to keep it there.

He subsequently returned to Schalke, with whom he won the German Cup in 2011 and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

In 2012 he started working for Red Bull, where his job role changed several times. He took on the position of sporting director of Leipzig and Salzburg, but even coached Leipzig twice during his eight years with Red Bull.

Rangnick’s work with youngsters certainly cannot be overlooked. Rangnick has helped Red Bull expand into European football, built a worldwide scouting network and has been a big part of the development of Leipzig and Salzburg’s youth systems and beyond. He has been instrumental in the success of Red Bull teams in football.

Last but not least, the sixty-three-year-old Rangnick is seen as an undisputed football visionary and philosopher. He developed the concept of “Gegenpressing”, i.e. that a team that loses the ball tries to get it back quickly rather than retreating to a defensive position.

In his studies he often quotes and refers to coaching legends such as Ernst Happel, Arrigo Sacchi and Zdenek Zeman. In contrast, Rangnick’s football concepts are proudly espoused by today’s coaching stars such as Thomas Tuchel, Julan Nagelsmann, Ralph Hasenhüttl and Jürgen Klopp.

Source: Sky Sports