Ralf Rangnick rinses Man Utd live on air with £750m jibe as ex boss doubles down on brutal assessment
The Austrian manager was not messing around when assessing the Red Devils' fall from grace
Ralf Rangnick made a mockery of Manchester United's progress since he left the club live on air with a jibe over their outlandish spending.
The Austrian took over a ragged United side on an interim basis between December 2021 and May 2022.
Despite having the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho, Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford in their ranks the Red Devils ended the season trophyless and finished a mere sixth in the table.
During his ill-fated stint, rumours swirled constantly of dressing room conflict, with the now-Austrian national team boss at the time urging the club to carry out "open heart surgery" on how the club operates.
But since then, United have finished third and eighth in the Premier League - and this season, Ruben Amorim's men currently sit an embarrassing 14th in the table.
And Rangnick did not hold back while on punditry duty for United's Europa League match against Athletic Bilbao on Canal+ Austria.
Prior to kick-off, he was asked to sum up what he believed to be the main issues currently at United.
"In the end. That a few basic things need to be changed and since then 700 or if not £750 million has been spent on new players," he mused.
"And in the table they are even significantly worse than back then."
The 66-year-old also took a swipe at Sir Jim Radcliffe, Amorim and the lack of a clear strategy at Old Trafford, adding: "They could actually, with a win in the Europa League, still save this season. Because then they will be in the Champions League.
"Everything else would be a disappointment, and it will be interesting to see what will happen.
"They have signed a coach in the middle of the season who plays with a three or a five-back, and the squad was built based on a four-back system.
"This is what you see when you see them play, especially in Premier League games against the opponents against which Manchester United normally has to win.
"Sure, in the Europa League, they have - usually with the result against Lyon, you are eliminated - they have turned it around. And of course, the stadium had a huge effect."
Rangnick claimed that United would again be 'favourites' against Bilbao due to the size of the club.
And he was proved right with his former side producing one of their best performances under Amorim, coasting past Athletic Bilbao 3-0 in the away leg of their Europa League semi-final.
The visitors went 1-0 up through Casemiro following superb wing play from Harry Maguire, before Dani Vivian was sent off for the denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity when he pulled back Rasmus Hojlund.
Bruno Fernandes made it 2-0 from the penalty spot, before adding a third after half-time against the beleaguered 10-man hosts.