Demba Ba: I was joining Rangnick's Man Utd staff - an amazing shopping list rebuffed

Former Newcastle United striker Demba Ba has insisted that Manchester United failed Ralf Rangnick.

The German was brought in as the club's interim head coach when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got the sack.

While Rangnick struggled to impose his style on United, Ba believes he should have been given new signings in that winter transfer window.

The 38-year-old Ba was even close to joining Rangnick at United as a coach, but The i states he did not get a work permit.

I speak from time to time with Ralf still," Ba explained.

He is not a guy who reaches out, he keeps you in his heart from afar. Amazing guy. People talk about him being a failure at Manchester United but that's not so. He was set up to fail, really.

If you had the list in your head that he gave to Manchester United to sign when he was there you'd be amazed. This was in January 2022. Josko Gvardiol was on it. Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland were on it, that's for sure. Enzo Fernandez, now at Chelsea, was there.

You forget but he had a big list of players. He diagnosed the problems at the club but the governance was not right there. It's not right, the set up isn't how it should be."