Man Utd’s failure to land Nkunku transfer is a major red flag
Robin Bairner
- 10 Apr 2022 11:10 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick has reportedly been left furious by failings in the club’s transfer network, notably the club’s failure to adequate scout RB Leipzig attacker Christopher Nkunku.
Rangnick wanted to strengthen the club during the transfer window and had pinpointed Nkunku as a potential signing, according to ESPN.
When he asked the club for information on the Frenchman, however, they were told that he was not a player they were presently tracking.
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This is alarming for Man Utd on several levels.
The first of these is that Nkunku is clearly a talent who should have been on the club’s radar. The former Paris Saint-Germain youth had shone in the group stages of the Champions League and notably scored a hat-trick against Manchester City.
Rangnick reportedly considers him to be “the best young player in Germany”, with Nkunku having scored 27 goals and created 17 more for Leipzig in just 41 games this season.
The 24-year-old is not playing in an obscure league or doing things that might be missed statistically. He has been in plain view all season and should surely have been picked up by Man Utd’s scouting network far earlier.
Rangnick must pick up the pieces
Beyond the immediate impact that such a massive oversight is having on the squad, there will be a hangover effect, too.
Dossiers on such players will need to be built up over time, and with Rangnick moving into an upstairs role in the summer, he will be in charge of overseeing this process. Clearly, though, he will be doing this without any strong foundations in place.
It is a reminder of how much the club has been allowed to deteriorate in recent years, not that Man Utd fans are in need of that following Saturday’s humiliating 1-0 defeat away to Everton, which leaves them facing the prospect of a season without Champions League football.
