Ralf Rangnick was appointed as Premier League club Manchester United’s interim manager on November 29. The 63-year-old German will be here at the club on a six-month deal, until May end. After that, he will take up a consultancy role at the club for a two-year period.

The former RB Leipzig boss was identified as Manchester United‘s numero uno choice for the interim vacancy after an interview process earlier this week. Among a list of five people who were shortlisted, Rangnick was chosen.

Here is all you need to know about Ralf Rangnick, who was also the head of sports and development at Lokomotiv Moscow.

Ralf Rangnick was born on June 29, 1958. Before taking up the player-coaching role at VfB Stuttgart, he spent a year at Southwick while he studied at the University of Sussex before he returned to his homeland.

On his arrival in Germany, he continued playing for the best part of the decade at lower league clubs. During all those times, he also picked up on the nuances of coaching.

Coaching career

Rangnick got his first coaching stint at his hometown club Viktoria Backnang. He finished his playing career as a player coach for Stuttgart II and TSV Lippoldsweiler.

After his playing career came to an end, he continued coaching in the lower divisions of German football for several years. Following that he was given an opportunity to manage former side Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. However, was fired after he spent a difficult second season at the club.

He then move onto Hannover and got a promotion to the German top-flight. He even applied to be the assistant manager of the national side of Germany but was eked out by Joachim Low.

He enjoyed success at Hoffenheim and Schalke, where he was the coach for two years. During his second stint, Schalke won the German Cup, German Super Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League. They were beaten by Manchester United.

The German then gave up the coaching role and set his focus on becoming the director of football for both Red Bull Leipzig and Salzburg. During this time, both teams rose from the fourth division all the way to the Bundesliga under his guidance.

Rangnick managed Leipzig on two spells where they achieved promotion to the top-flight. In 2020, he left Leipzig and joined Lokomotiv in the summer.

The legacy

Rangnick is known as a ‘professor of football’. He is often credited for influencing modern German coaches Jurgen Klopp, Thomas Tuchel, Ralph Hasenhuttl and Julian Nagelsmann.

He is widely known as one of the pioneers for “zonal marking from set-pieces with his sides well known for a high-pressing game as well as a tendency to play on the front foot,” Manchester Evening News reported.