Chris Armas lined up to join Ralf Rangnick's Manchester United coaching staff

Ralf Rangnick hopes to appoint Chris Armas to his new coaching staff at Manchester United after the departure of Michael Carrick.

Chris Armas is lined up to join Manchester United's coaching staff under Ralf Rangnick.

American Armas, 49, previously coached Toronto FC in the Major League Soccer but was sacked in July. Armas is familiar to Rangnick from his six years coaching New York Red Bulls as Rangnick was involved in the Red Bull group as sporting director and coach between 2012-19.

Sources have suggested Rangnick could provide an update on additions to his coaching staff at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday. Armas would require a work permit.

The addition of Armas could increase the pressure on Mike Phelan, the United assistant manager, after former first-team coach Michael Carrick left last week.

Phelan, 59, rejoined United with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December 2018 and his presence on the coaching staff has been criticised this season.

The former assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson has cut a lone figure since Solskjaer was sacked 15 days ago and Rangnick did not appear to consult him during Sunday's win over Crystal Palace.

Rangnick revealed in his introductory press conference he had spoken with Carrick - in an attempt to convince him to stay - and first-team coach Kieran McKenna but not Phelan.

The German outlined his intention to add up to three coaching staff members but stressed the process for obtaining work permits had been complicated by post-Brexit regulations.

"The question about the coaching staff, I'm more than happy to work with the current coaching staff because I need their experience, I need their expertise regarding the current squad," Rangnick said. "I will obviously try to find one, two, maybe three people who can join us in the one or two weeks but, due to the Brexit regulations, it's not too easy.

"Many of my former colleagues, no matter if it's video analysts or assistant coaches are in long-term contracts with big clubs, so they are not available right now and we have to be a bit smart and clever and find the right people.

"I hope that we can get them in here in the next one or two weeks, but I cannot tell you any names."