Man Utd have been linked with Denis Zakaria in the January transfer window but Ralf Rangnick has set a high bar for winter deals.
Ralf Rangnick’s role at Manchester United is on the coaching pitches and in the dugout, but the German is a recruitment expert as well and as such as he’s well versed in the minefield of the January transfer window.
The 63-year-old has put his trainers back on for his interim role as United’s manager but, over the last decade, his career has moved away from the training field and towards the executive offices.
Rangnick spent seven years as director of football covering Red Bull-owned clubs in Salzburg and Leipzig and in 2019 he was promoted to head of sport and development overseeing all Red Bull clubs. He has his finger on the pulse when it comes to recruitment.
So while United fans might be desperately hoping he can prise open the Glazers’ chequebook once again this month, Rangnick has already laid out his requirements for a January transfer and it’s a set of criteria that United will struggle to meet.
“My opinion on winter transfers is clear,” he said in December`
“It needs to be a player who improves the quality, who improves the team to get better, it needs to be a high-quality player, no matter in which area of the pitch.
“If it’s a midfielder or whatever it is, it needs to be a player who really helps us to get better. And on the other hand, it needs to be a player, in case we would want him in the summer and he should be available for similar conditions in the winter, then it might make sense to discuss it and to have thoughts about that. But only then, if those two things come together.
“And it needs to be the right mentality, not only the right quality. We also need, especially for this competitive league, to have the best possible mentality. They need to be mature enough, have a winning mentality. For me the mentality in this league is even more crucial than in any other league in the world.
There’s only one area United have earmarked for strengthening in January and that is in central midfield and for all the criticism that Fred and Scott McTominay receive, it’s not easy to find anyone better in this window.
United considered signing a midfielder last summer but decided they couldn’t get the right player in at the end of a busy window in which Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo joined. There was consternation when they didn’t hijack Saul Niguez’s loan move from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea, yet the Spaniard is now struggling at Stamford Bridge.
Rangnick described Fred and McTominay as “almost perfect” for him after his first game in charge and while it’s clear there is scope for an upgrade, either in an elite level holding midfielder or a deep-lying player with a better passing range, the idea has to be to improve that area.
Denis Zakaria is the latest name to be linked with a move, with strong speculation in Germany that United are spoken to his agents, although the Manchester Evening News understands that isn’t the case so far.
The 25-year-old is available at a cut-price fee this window as he is out of contract in the summer, but the question for United is does he improve the midfield as it is? Zakaria has spent four-and-a-half years at Borussia Monchengladbach and while he’s a good midfielder, it’s not immediately obvious that he’s an upgrade on Fred and McTominay.
United don’t need to sign another midfielder for a squad role beyond this summer. They need central midfielders who can be mainstays in a team with designs of winning domestic and European trophies. Zakaria might offer something for six months, but does he really fit that bill?
Rangnick’s comments show the importance of taking a long-term view in January. The only reason for mid-season deals are desperation or that targets for the summer have become available early. If United were shopping for world-class midfielders in July it’s unlikely Zakaria would be top of that list.
Central midfield is clearly the area most in need of reinforcements for United, but they have to target the right players for the long-term and that isn’t easy to achieve in January.
