Manchester United are two months into the Ralf Rangnick experiment, with the German coach attempting to guide the club into the top four by the end of the season.
Rangnick has been hired on an interim basis until the end of the season, with United deciding he was the best option.
Other names were linked too, with The Independent and The Athletic reporting Laurent Blanc was being considered as an interim boss.
Blanc formerly played for United and has experience in management with Paris Saint-Germain, although had not managed in Europe since 2016.
Over the last two seasons he has been coaching in Qatar with Al-Rayyan, and that spell has now come to an end.
Blanc fired not hired
Blanc was passed up by United, and it’s hard to tell whether he was ever a serious contender. Rangnick was by all accounts the first option for the interim role.
He has since continued at Al-Rayyan, until now. Blanc has been fired after a poor run of results.
GFFN France report Blanc was sacked over the weekend, with the side sitting in a lowly ninth place out of 12 in the table.
Blanc managed to win only 19 of 51 matches, despite adding James Rodriguez to his squad in the summer.
Last season the team had finished third, so the drop to ninth has been a pronounced regression.
It could always be worse
The results under Ralf Rangnick have not been ideal, and United fans are frustrated with the current run of form.
Despite this, there have been good signs, with United no longer looking as flimsy in midfield as under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and the defence is much improved.
The players are more of the problem than the manager, but it could always be worse.
If United had moved for Blanc, United would likely have more than just the one Premier League defeat the side have suffered under Ralf Rangnick so far.
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