Ralf Rangnick's time in charge of Manchester United is not fondly remembered by many but he did endear himself to supporters by calling out the problems at the club in public.

Rangnick replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December 2021, becoming United's interim manager for the remainder of the 2021-22 season, but presided over a difficult few months at Old Trafford and plans for him to stay on in an advisory role were scrapped that summer. Amid United's problems under Erik ten Hag this season, Rangnick's evaluation of the state of the club has taken on higher significance. We've taken a look at some of the things he got right about United...

Rangnick knew quick fixes wouldn't be enough

Probably the most memorable soundbite from Rangnick's brief spell at United was his likening of the club's problems to a person with a serious health condition.

“You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are,” he said. “Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart."

United's open-heart surgery is yet to occur, but United fans will hope a new structure under Sir Jim Ratcliffe will bring about the changes Rangnick had in mind.

2 Tipping Garnacho for the Top

Alejandro Garnacho's emergence has been a huge positive for United during Ten Hag's time at the club. The Argentine broke into the team last season and has been a mainstay this term, appearing 45 times in all competitions - only goalkeeper Andre Onana has made more appearances with 46.

Rangnick named Garnacho among United's substitutes for a Premier League match with Norwich in April 2022 and tipped him for a bright future when explaining his decision.

“[Garnacho] has been training with us [the first team] for the last two weeks and I know that he is one of the most promising players," Rangnick told MUTV. "[He is] still only 17, but a player that hopefully if he keeps his feet on the ground, if he keeps trying to get better every day, then he will not only be sitting on the bench but there is every chance he will be playing for this club."

Swede has outperformed United's forwards this term

Little attention was paid when Anthony Elanga left United last summer to join Nottingham Forest but he has shown just why he was rated so highly by Rangnick, scoring five times and registering eight assists in the Premier League.

That's 13 direct goal contributions, which is more than Alejandro Garnacho (11), Marcus Rashford (nine) and Antony (two) have managed this season.

Elanga had wanted to leave United on loan due to a lack of game time when Rangnick arrived in December 2021 but quickly won his new manager over.

“In the first training session he was the player with the best training performance in that session so I asked my colleagues and my staff about him and found out that he had almost already decided to leave the club on loan," Rangnick recalled in 2022. “The week after that I told him 'listen, I want you to stay, I want to see how you do in training and in the games until the closure of the transfer window.'"

Rangnick suggested a whole host of players for United to sign during his time at the club, including Enzo Fernandez, Erling Haaland, Josko Gvardiol and Julian Alvarez. The Austrian was keen to reinforce the squad in the January 2021 transfer window but was not backed by United's owners, who did not want to finance a rebuild under an interim manager.

"It was clear to everyone that there was a need in many areas," Rangnick told Bild. "That's why we were already discussing players like Josko Gvardiol and Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig. Those were names that were realistic. "We also talked about Alvaro Morata, Luis Diaz, Dusan Vlahovic and, as I said, Erling Haaland when they were still on the market. But the club decided at that time to rebuild the team under the new coach."

5 Calling Out the Glazers

'After two weeks it was clear where the problems were'

Gary Neville said earlier this year that United got rid of Rangnick because he 'scared them to death'. As well as his open-heart surgery comment, Rangnick also appeared to question whether the desire to make the appropriate changes in order to succeed was actually there from the Glazers in the first place. Rangnick was clearly of the opinion that United's football structure needed modernising but said he wasn't given the chance to implement change.

Speaking after taking the Austria manager's job in 2022, he said: "After just two weeks it was clear to me where the problems were and what would have to be done to fix them - but the question is whether you have the option of changing these things."

6 Agreeing to Stay on in a Consultancy Role

Ten Hag prompted United to scrap plans after arriving

As part of United's agreement to bring Rangnick to the club, it was also decided that he would stay on in a consultancy role up until the summer of 2024. Rangnick arrived at United with a brilliant reputation as a director of football, having played integral roles in that position for both Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig, and United's plan to keep him at the club so that he could work with the next permanent manager appeared to be a great plan - and a plan so sensible that it surprised fans who had become so accustomed to seeing their club make the wrong decisions.

United, however, reverted to type and scrapped that plan on Ten Hag's say-so as the Dutchman did not want to work alongside Rangnick. It's clear now more than ever that United would have benefitted from him staying.