Ralf Rangnick announces Manchester United departure

Ralf Rangnick has announced that he will not be remaining at Manchester United as a consultant.

The German had been due to move into the role folowing the conclusion of his stint as interim manager.

But he has since decided that he would be unable to juggle it with his new position as head coach of the Austrian national team, which he took up last month.

Rangnick confirmed his departure from Old Trafford in a press conference with Austria on Sunday.

In response, a United statement said:

"We to thank Ralf Rangnick for his efforts as interim manager over the past six months.

"By mutual agreement, Ralf will now focus solely on his new role as manager of the Austria national team and will not therefore be taking up a consultancy role at Old Trafford.

"We would like to wish Ralf the best of luck in this next chapter of his career."

The news bring an end to a rather bizarre period in United's recent history.

Rangnick was appointed interim boss in December after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's sacking and ostensibly tasked with laying the foundations for the next era at Old Trafford.

But his time in charge ended with the team in no better a state than when he took over - leaving new permanent manager Erik ten Hag with a huge-looking job on his hands.