Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann believes Ralf Rangnick owes Jurgen Klopp a debt for paving the way for him at Manchester United.
Rangnick was of course appointed as United’s interim manager back in December, a role he will fulfil until stepping into a consultancy role at the end of the season.
The former RB Leipzig boss’ arrival represented the latest in the line of German managers to make their way over to England, with an influx following the appointment of Klopp at Anfield in 2015.
Since then, the likes of Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, Daniel Farke at Norwich and David Wagner at Huddersfield have followed, before Rangnick arrived at Old Trafford earlier this season.
And fellow countryman Hamann believes Klopp paved the way for his compatriots to follow him into the Premier League.
"There were other managers in lower leagues - Farke at Norwich, Wagner at Huddersfield - who got them promoted to the Premier League,” Hamann told Genting Casino.
"If it wasn’t for Klopp, I don’t think some of the other guys would have got a chance. Tuchel certainly would have after his periods at PSG and in Dortmund, but I think some others have benefited."
Hamann though thinks that the influx of German coaches won't last forever, and with Rangnick set to pass on the reins at United this summer, a new wave of coaches could arrive from elsewhere.
"We’ve seen it in the past with French managers, with Spanish managers, Portuguese managers, if it all goes well and people come looking,” Hamann added.
"Also, to a certain extent Rangnick, because if you look at his CV, he wouldn’t strike you as a Man United manager and obviously, it remains to be seen whether he keeps his job, but yes, I think a lot of German managers benefited from Klopp.”
Asked if he ever thought he would see German managers leading some of the Premier League’s top clubs, Hamann said: "No, I don’t think anybody would have foreseen that, and funnily enough Klopp and Tuchel made the first steps at Mainz, so Mainz produced two of the world’s best trainers.
"They both won the FIFA Manager of the Year in world football. It’s astonishing that a small club like Mainz, who do a great job in the Bundesliga, produced two of the best managers.
"I think we had a bit of a drought for a while, we had a lot of foreign managers here in Germany, but now the Germans go to England and go all over the world. It’s good to see, but then again, these things go in cycles, I don’t think in three, five, eight years’ time we will be in the same situation.”
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