Ralf Rangnick will not be continuing at Manchester United in his consultancy role and will concentrate solely on managing the Austria national team.
The German served as United’s interim manager following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer last November but could only lead the team to a disappointing sixth place finish in the Premier League.
The plan had been for the 63-year-old to work behind the scenes at Old Trafford once Erik ten Hag took over as their new manager but United have confirmed that won’t now be the case.
Ralf Rangnick will leave Manchester United and will not now work as a consultant for the club
The German’s time with United was underwhelming as they came sixth in the Premier League
A club statement said: ‘We would like 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.’
United confirmed Rangnick’s exit after he confirmed his departure during a press conference in Austria on Sunday.
Rangnick will now focus on Austria’s upcoming quartet of UEFA Nations League Group A1 fixtures against Croatia, Denmark and France.
The scope of Rangnick’s consultancy role and his responsibilities had not been revealed and with Ten Hag determined to make his mark on an underachieving squad it was increasingly unclear where he would fit in to the power structure.
But only last month he said: ‘I will take over as national team manager of Austria at the end of the season but will continue my consultancy with Manchester United.
‘I’m really looking forward to playing my part in helping United become a real force again.’
United endured a poor set of results towards the end of the season as they missed the top four
It falls to new United boss Erik ten Hag to perform the ‘open heart surgery’ Rangnick said the team needed to compete again at the highest levels
Rangnick was serving as Manager of Sports and Development at Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow when United hired him following Solskjaer’s sacking last November.
Despite an initial defensive improvement, Rangnick was unable to find a sufficient consistency of form to push United into the Champions League places.
There were a series of embarrassing defeats, including a 4-1 loss at neighbours Manchester City and dreadful 4-0 defeats to Liverpool and Brighton.
United ended the season with six consecutive losses away from home and their lowest points total in the Premier League era, albeit one that was enough to get them into next season’s Europa League.
Rangnick has just started work with Austria ahead of a quartet of Nations League fixtures
They also exited the FA Cup to Championship club Middlesbrough and the Champions League to Atletico Madrid.
His tenure ended up with 11 wins, 10 draws and eight defeats from 29 matches in charge.
It was announced on April 29 that Rangnick had taken up his new job with Austria on a two-year contract with the option of a further two years should they qualify for Euro 2024.
Rangnick did speak candidly about the extent of United’s current problems, saying the club needed ‘open heart surgery’, and he has spoken with incoming boss Ten Hag about the multitude of problems the Dutch coach has inherited.