Manchester United: Jurgen Klopp says Ralf Rangnick’s arrival is ‘not good news’ for other teams

Jurgen Klopp has warned that Ralf Rangnick’s expected arrival at Manchester United is ‘not good news’ for other teams in the Premier League.

Rangnick has reached an agreement with the Red Devils over taking over on an interim basis until the end of the season, before taking up a two-year consultancy role at Old Trafford.

The 63-year-old was previously described as ‘one of the best, if not the best German coach,’ by Klopp who along with Thomas Tuchel of Chelsea and Bayern Munich‘s Julian Nagelsmann have all named Rangnick as a vital influence.  

Jurgen Klopp has warned that Ralf Rangnick’s arrival is bad news for other teams in the Premier League

Rangnick has reached an agreement to become the interim of Klopp and Liverpool’s rivals Manchester United

The Liverpool manager spoke about his mentor during his pre-match conference ahead of their game with Southampton at the weekend.

He said: ‘Yeah, unfortunately a good coach is coming to England so that’s how it is, to Manchester United. 

‘Ralf is obviously a very experienced manager, built two clubs from nowhere to proper threats and proper forces in Germany in Hoffenheim and Leipzig.

‘Been to lot of different jobs in football but always first concern actually was being a coach, being a manager and that’s what his best skill is.

‘United will be organised on the pitch I think we should realise that and obviously not good news for other teams. 

Jurgen Klopp has previously described Ralf Rangnick (left) as the best German coach

‘But all the coaches in the world need time to train with our teams and Ralf will quickly realise he has no time to train as they play all the time but other than is a really good man and outstanding coach if it happens will come to England.’

Klopp then went on to speak about Rangnick’s career in Germany, as well as his early memories of the 63-year-old when the Liverpool boss was then at Mainz.

He said:  ‘Very highly regarded obviously but where he was he did incredible jobs. He started early as a very young man at Stuttgart coaching the second team going from there.

‘Don’t know all the early clubs but he was at Ulm and brought them to the Bundesliga which was insane.

‘We faced each other first time when I was a young coach he was at Hannover so he might have forgotten that.

‘They always played our opponent a week later so he called me and asked plenty of questions. I was happy that big Ralf Rangnick was calling me and he got all the information he needed.

Klopp has had much success in his career and has named Rangnick as a vital influence

Rangnick is nicknamed the ‘Godfather of German Football’  because of his innovative coaching

‘They got promoted, we didn’t so he owes me still something so apart from that in a football world in Germany he’s very well regarded and rightly so.’ 

There are direct comparisons between the Liverpool manager and Rangnick – who is known as the ‘Godfather of German Football – in term of their style of play.  

That is according to the soon-to-be United manager himself, who even used the same ‘rock and roll’ and ‘heavy metal’ terminology that Klopp has been using ever since his Borussia Dortmund days.

In an interview with the Coaches Voice in September of this year, Rangnick told up-and-coming coaches: ‘Our idea is clear: it’s very, very similar to my almost-coaching friend Jurgen Klopp.

‘Our football is very heavy metal, rock and roll and it’s not slow balls. It’s not square passes, back passes. Just having the ball ourselves doesn’t make sense.’

United have been on the hunt for an interim boss following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking on Sunday, with Cristiano Ronaldo & Co languishing in eighth place in the Premier League amid a poor start to the campaign.

Michael Carrick is in temporary charge and will take his side to Stamford Bridge against Chelsea this weekend.