'I was right' - Ralf Rangnick doubles down on Man United verdict with Erik ten Hag comments

Former interim manager Ralf Rangnick was asked about his infamous "open-heart surgery" verdict after hearing current Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag agree.

Ralf Rangnick believes he has been proven correct in his assessment of Manchester United - having claimed the Premier League club needed "open-heart surgery" two years ago.

The Austria head coach had made the statement in one of his final press conferences as interim manager at Old Trafford in 2022. Since then, more than 30 players have been permanently offloaded from United's books and the Premier League giants also have new co-owner at the helm.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe enacted a boardroom overhaul upon his arrival with the hierarchy deciding to keep Rangnick's successor, Erik ten Hag, in situ after May's FA Cup win despite a record-low eighth-place Premier League finish.

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After taking over temporarily in December 2021 following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Rangnick guided United to sixth position in the table five months later. A few weeks before his exit, prior to it being confirmed that his scheduled move into the club's boardroom was cancelled, Rangnick delivered his stark assessment of United.

"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. If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together. I believe it doesn't take two or three years to change those things, this can happen within one year.”

Rangnick added: "For sure [strong leadership is needed]. This is something that not one single person as a manager can do. In all areas you have to have top people and they have to work together in a very close, reliable way."

Speaking in July, Ten Hag admitted he agreed with Rangnick's reset analysis: "[Ralf] Rangnick was absolutely right. We've been working very hard on that [high standards] for two years, but he said it just right; it's a thorough, very complex operation."

The Dutchman has made 16 permanent signings since taking charge at United, and Rangnick - who revealed he spoke to Solskjaer for two hours before stepping into the Old Trafford dugout - says that recruitment proves his assessment was correct.

"I probably made that statement when the season was almost over about two years ago," the 66-year-old told TV2. "It's probably only two or three weeks since Erik ten Hag was asked the same thing.

"Then he said that I was right in my analysis. I don't know how many players they have signed since, but it looks like I was right."