Demba Ba has revealed he almost joined Manchester United's coaching staff during Ralf Rangnick's difficult spell as interim manager.
Rangnick was brought in on a short-term basis last December, with a view to building a long-term strategy at Old Trafford but left prematurely after agreeing to become the manager of the Austrian national team in April.
Ba made the revelations about Rangnick's approach in an interview with the i, saying: “When Ralf got appointed he called me, he said to me he wanted me on his staff. He said: ‘You know the Premier League, you know players, you have a background that is close to theirs, you speak English and German and you can be the link between the squad and my staff’.
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“For him he saw it as a perfect match and I’d be able to help him, he thought they’d respect me for who I was and what I’d done in the Premier League. It was a six-month assignment to go in and help but it didn’t happen because the visa didn’t get accepted.
“For me it’s not a regret. Getting experience is always good – it would have been good to get that experience. I’m still working as hard as ever in life, probably even more now.”
On the mutual decision between United and Rangnick to scrap the German's planned two-year consultancy role, Ba said: “The plan was always to bring in Ralf to get their long-term target. That was the plan and it makes sense now they have their long-term target they give him [Ten Hag] the support and everything he needs to work well."
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