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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Samuel Luckhurst

Erik ten Hag will inherit core group of 'top' Manchester United players

Ralf Rangnick believes there is a core group of 'top players' for Manchester United to rebuild their squad around in the summer.

Rangnick's tenure as interim manager comes to an end on Sunday at Crystal Palace, where United have to match or better West Ham's result at Brighton to qualify for the Europa League and finish sixth.

United have only won 11 of Rangnick's 28 games in charge and went out of the FA Cup in the fourth round and the Champions League in the round-of-16 under the German, suffering humiliating Premier League defeats at Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton, where they shipped four goals in each of them.

Read more: Four United players are doubts for Sunday's game

Cristiano Ronaldo claimed both of his hat-tricks under Rangnick and Fred has drawn praise in a more advanced role, while Anthony Elanga broke into the first-team after Rangnick replaced caretaker manager Michael Carrick.

David de Gea could receive the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award for the fifth time but defenders Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw have had forgettable seasons, Jadon Sancho has underwhelmed and Bruno Fernandes has under-performed. Rangnick is still convinced United have a quality group of players for new manager Erik ten Hag to inherit.

"I still strongly believe there is a core of players who are top, who are well worth and good enough to play at this club and hopefully, most of those players will still be here next season," Rangnick said.

"As I said earlier on, if the board, Erik, the scouting department, and I will help them with all in the issues I can bring in to help them - if we bring in the right mentality players, the right quality players, I'm positive that we will be able to bring this club back, not only on track, but also back to the top, and this is what it's all about in the next couple of weeks.

"Maybe it will not be possible in one transfer window but I'm very positive that it can happen in the next two or three windows."

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