Rangnick has been appointed by Man United.

Michael Carrick will remain in charge as Rangnick’s visa application is finalised
Rangnick said United’s squad ‘is full of talent and has a great balance of youth and experience’

Ralf Rangnick has been confirmed as Manchester United’s interim manager until the end of the season.

The 63-year-old German has left his role as director of sports and development at Lokomotiv Moscow to replace Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at United on a six-month contract until the end of May.

Rangnick will then stay on at Old Trafford in a consultancy role for a further two years, although it’s possible he could land the manager’s job on a permanent basis if results go well.

Ralf Rangnick has finally been confirmed as Manchester United's interim manager — Ralf Rangnick has finally been confirmed as Manchester United’s interim manager

Rangnick is highly regarded in the game and is nicknamed 'the godfather of gegenpressing' — Rangnick is highly regarded in the game and is nicknamed ‘the godfather of gegenpressing’

United chose Rangnick from a shortlist of five candidates last week but have been negotiating his release from Lokomotiv while the former Schalke, Hoffenheim and Hanover boss applied for a work permit.

That process is ongoing so it remains to be seen if Rangnick will be in the dug-out for Thursday’s game against Arsenal at Old Trafford.null

Caretaker manager Michael Carrick, who has overseen a Champions League win over Villarreal and Sunday’s draw at Premier League leaders Chelsea, will remain in charge if Rangnick cannot begin work immediately.

United announced the news on Monday, saying: ‘Manchester United is delighted to announce the appointment of Ralf Rangnick as interim manager until the end of the season, subject to work visa requirements. Following this period, Ralf and the club have agreed that he will continue in a consultancy role for a further two years.

‘Michael Carrick will remain in charge of the first team until Ralf’s work visa is finalised. The club wishes to place on record its thanks to Lokomotiv Moscow for their co-operation in the process of bringing Ralf to Manchester United.’

Rangnick spoke for the first time about his move to Old Trafford, saying: ‘I am excited to be joining Manchester United and focused on making this a successful season for the club. The squad is full of talent and has a great balance of youth and experience.

‘All my efforts for the next six months will be on helping these players fulfil their potential, both individually and, most importantly, as a team. Beyond that I look forward to supporting the club’s longer-term goals on a consultancy basis.’

FIFA HAS REJECTED SAFA PROREST.

The World’s football governing body has thrown out the protest filed against Ghana by South Africa, according to reports in the local media.

Fifa has rejected South Africa’s protest against Ghana and Senegalese referee Maguitta Ndiaye following the 1-0 defeat a fortnight ago in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers, wontumionline.com understand.

The Black Stars were in a dire need of three points to top Group G and book their place in the playoffs while South Africa needed just a point, however, it was Ghana that had the last laugh.

Andre Ayew scored the only goal after referee Ndiaye awarded Ghana a penalty after Leicester City defender Daniel Amartey was heckled down in the penalty box but officials from South Africa believed that the referee was manipulated prompting a complaint to Fifa.

They further alleged that a Ghanaian official travelled to Senegal to meet referee Ndiaye before the game.

Although Ghana responded to the allegations on November 20, the official ruling has since not been released.

However, reports in the local media indicate that Fifa has rejected all the allegations levelled against Ghana and the referee and therefore, there will not be any replay as earlier anticipated

Despite no evidence of match manipulation and fixing, Senegalese referee Ndiaye Maguette, however, will likely be punished with some games ban since his general performance was below average according to the match review panel.

Ghana will progress to the next stage of the competition and face either Senegal who is currently rye best-ranked county on the continent or Morocco

There is also a possibility of the Black Stars facing Nigeria, Tunisia or Mali since these countries complete the top five ranked countries left in the qualifiers.

The official draw for the playoffs has been moved from December to January 2022 and the games have been scheduled for March 2022.