Ralf Rangnick Slams Thomas Tuchel Links To Become Next Man United Manager.

Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has slammed speculations linking Thomas Tuchel to become the club’s next permanent manager amid the current crisis at Chelsea.

Tuchel’s future at Stamford Bridge is uncertain following the sanctions imposed on Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who has owned the West London club since 2003.

The Blues manager has been linked with the upcoming vacancy at Old Trafford, and despite assuring the club that he will not quit as Chelsea manager, that decision could be taken out of his hands amid the turmoil at the club.

‘'I am still happy to be here and still happy to be manager of a strong team,'’ he said after his side cruised to a 3-1 victory against bottom-placed Norwich City on Thursday night.

''It would be a lie if I said we I had no doubts but I also had a lot of trust.

‘'In difficult circumstances we produced a lot of results and good performances so we can trust in our mentality and the culture in the club. We allowed ourselves to focus on the football.'’

Tuchel played for Rangnick’s German club SSV Ulm before being forced to retire in 1998 at age 24 due to a knee cartilage injury. He also worked as a youth team coach for United during his time at Stuttgart.

The former Dortmund and PSG manager, has won the Champions League, Super Cup and Club World Cup since taking over at Chelsea in January 2021, and is now regarded as one of the best managers in world football.

Following the UK Government’s announcement that Abramovich had been sanctioned and his assets frozen, Liverpool legend Jamie Carraghelr urged Manchester United to look towards Tuchel.

The Red Devils are set to appoint a new permanent manager at the end of the season and have been heavily linked with Paris Saint-Germain’s Mauricio Pochettino and Ajax’s Erik ten Hag.

Rangnick, who took charge of the side on interim basis following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s sacking in November, was reluctant to speculate over the prospect of a move for Tuchel at his pre-match press conference on Friday.

United were considering giving serious thought to appointing Rangnick after an encouraging start to his interim spell at Old Trafford, but recent results and performances have been poor this past weeks and the German now looks set to move into a consultancy role at the club instead.

Although Rangnick privately views Tuchel as an interesting candidate for the vacant United job, but when asked if his fellow country man could emerge as a Man United managerial target, Rangnick said ahead of Saturday’s clash with top-four rivals Spurs: ‘'It doesn’t make sense at all to even think or speculate about that.

Yes, Thomas Tuchel is a top manager, yes, I know him well, yes he was a player of mine in Ulm, yes, he took his first job as a football coach in Stuttgart when I was the head coach.

‘'We all know that, but he’s the manager of Chelsea right now, they’re third, they’re still in the Champions League.

‘'Only because there are issues now around the ownership of this club, to speculate about maybe him being a candidate for the manager’s job here in the summer, it doesn’t make sense to do that.'’

Chelsea are currently third in the Premier League, welcome in-form Newcastle United to Stamford Bridge on Sunday, While Man United are currently fifth, and set to play Tottenham later today at Old Trafford.