Rio Ferdinand says that Manchester United will have to follow Arsenal's example with Mikel Arteta as they prepare to embark on a new management regime. Ralf Rangnick is currently in charge as manager until the end of the current season, but they have since announced the appointment of Ajax boss Erik ten Hag as their next hire.
Manchester United have struggled for the best part of a decade since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club, with four permanent managers unable to restore the team to the top of the Premier League. And current struggles have left the club unlikely to qualify for next season's Champions League, with Rangnick's side currently seventh in the table and facing an uphill battle if they are to grab a top four slot.
Arsenal, meanwhile, have navigated some difficult stretches under Arteta - including three defeats in a row at the beginning of the season - to have put themselves in with a good chance of sealing a top-four place. And former Man United defender Ferdinand says that his old club will have to be patient and trusting with the next manager as Arsenal have done if they are to break the current cycle.
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"Manchester United are obviously now looking for a new manager, and hopefully things [at the club] will change," Ferdinand told William Hill. "If you look at Arsenal, they have found the manager, they trust in him and they have allowed him to do some things where a lot of people have probably doubted it.
"(Such as) with the (Pierre-Emerick) Aubameyang situation, where people thought he’s a big player and you have to keep him. But now Arteta has done what he wanted and Arsenal are on a good run at the moment.
"You have to trust in the manager and trust in the process and fingers crossed Man United will do that. At the end of the day, when you are a professional you have to apply yourself right every single day and the culture, with the environment that you are in, has to be structured and put together for you to be the best you can be as an individual, but in our sport, as a collective as well. Up until over the last few years Man United has not been set up like that.
"You can’t lie, [they are just not good enough at the moment]. You can’t try and sugar-coat it and dress it up as something that it isn’t. The league table doesn’t lie. The league table tells you where you’re at and Man United aren’t good enough at the moment, aren’t playing well enough, aren’t consistent enough. That is just a fact."
