See Manchester United’s best discovery under Ralf Rangnick

Ralf Rangnick insists Manchester United got a ‘new player’ in Anthony Elanga following his appointment as interim manager.

Elanga had played five minutes of first-team football all season and was intent on leaving on loan in the January transfer window until Rangnick came in and named the 19-year-old in his first matchday squad against Crystal Palace. Elanga came on in the second-half and has enjoyed a progressive three months, scoring against Brentford, Leeds and Atletico Madrid.

United trimmed their squad size in the winter window by loaning out Anthony Martial, Amad and Donny van de Beek, and Elanga’s increased playing time coincided with the trio’s departures.

Elanga revealed after the Atletico match he had studied goalkeeper Jan Oblak’s positioning for shots and beat the Slovenian with a first-time finish.

“If you come as a manager in the middle of the season without any pre-season and without any influence on new players… In fact, we lost players and didn’t bring in any new players. Maybe you can describe Anthony Elanga as a new player because he had already in his own mind left in the winter.

“So it’s not about how far are we away from our best possible football, it’s about developing the team and getting the best out of the team and hopefully at the end, everyone can say in hindsight that it was a good season for us.