Rangnick held two-hour England talks in summer

Ralph Rangnick: No recent contact

Ralph Rangnick: No recent contact

Leipzig’s director of sport Ralf Rangnick has confirmed he did hold talks about becoming England manager in the summer, although he insists there has been no contact since Sam Allardyce was dismissed.

Rangnick, who coached Leipzig to their first ever promotion to the Bundesliga last season before moving into his new role, has emerged as one of the favourites to succeed Allardyce, whose contract was terminated by mutual consent on Tuesday.

There had been speculation he had already been approached by the Football Association, but the 58-year-old told Sky Sport Deutschland he had not had any contact since July.

“The fact is, a few days after the Euro 2016 final, I got a call,” he said.

“It was from Dan Ashworth, the association’s technical director whom I had already known a few years. He invited me for talks. It was about me becoming the new England manager.

“We had a two-hour, good talk. A day later, Dan Ashworth informed me that they had decided they wanted to appoint an English manager, also out of respect for the guild of English managers.

“Since then, there has not been any more contact.

“As a German, then there is Germany (as a possible national team to manage) and since I studied English, then there is also England for me.

“To say that such a job would never come into question would certainly not be right.”

Rangnick’s Leipzig moved up to third in the Bundesliga with a 2-1 win over Augsburg on Friday night, which made them the first league newcomers to get through their first six games of the season unbeaten.