Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Man Utd told they would be ‘silly’ not to use Ralf Rangnick pull to sign ‘top central defender’

Ralf Rangnick Man Utd interim manager

Manchester United have been told that Chelsea centre-back Antonio Rudiger is exactly the sort of defender they need and that they would be silly not to use Ralf Rangnick’s links to the player to get him.

The Germany defender has been in outstanding form since Thomas Tuchel took over from Frank Lampard at the helm, playing a role in their Champions League triumph last season.

However, the 28-year-old will be one of a number of Chelsea stars out of contract this summer, leading to a number of top clubs chasing his signature.

United are in the mix for a deal, along with the likes of Tottenham, PSG Juventus and Bayern Munich.

And former Red Devils winger Luke Chadwick has urged the club to do everything in their power to sign Rudiger.

The Old Trafford club do have a conduit to a deal in the form of Rangnick. The German knows Rudiger’s agent and half-brother Sahr Senesie and previous reports suggested that Senesie is willing to negotiate with United’s interim manager.

That has led to Chadwick prompting his old to try and strike a deal.

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He told CaughtOffside: “Rudiger is the sort of defender United need at the moment. He’s improved so much over the last 18 months in terms of his ball carrying, he’d add a lot to this United squad.


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Rangnick key to Rudiger deal

“A lot of football is built about relationships. If he has got a strong relationship with Rangnick then United would be silly not to pursue that.

“He’s shown this season that he’s one of the top central defenders in the Premier League. That is despite him playing three at the back as Thomas Tuchel does at Chelsea.

“But I’m sure he could do a job at United. Defensively it’s not been right there for a while now. New faces can bring the best out of others and improve competition.

“Obviously Varane came in and has suffered with injuries, Maguire’s out at the moment … I think you can never have too many good players and the competition is what you need.”

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