Manchester United post-Sir Alex Ferguson has been a club full of missed opportunities but the decision to let Ralf Rangnick leave seems like a huge one in hindsight.
The club didn’t let him do what he does best- eyeing and signing young talent, and let him go after doing what he does least convincingly- first-team management.
Rangnick was honest about problems plaguing Old Trafford, rearing their head now once again, and was keen to kickstart a revolution but wasn’t heard.
United’s reticence to getting challenged led to them washing their hands off a mastermind in transfers and another missed opportunity has now emerged in the transfer market.
Anfield Index reports that Florian Wirtz, the crown jewel of Bayer Leverkusen and Bundesliga as a whole, was seriously considering coming to Old Trafford to join Rangnick’s revolution.
It speaks volumes of the influence he holds in German football that Germany’s brightest talent was willing to come to an unsettled United just because of Rangnick.
However, after his dismissal and subsequent upheaval at the club, Wirtz no longer considers United to be a viable career move.
To add salt to the wound, he is now enamoured by another German in the Premier League.
Wirtz has Liverpool at the top of his list of suitors now, with the prospect of playing for Jurgen Klopp proving to be a particularly attractive one.
It represents a huge missed opportunity for United, as Wirtz has lit up the Bundesliga this season under Xabi Alonso.
With three goals and four assists in 10 games this year, Wirtz has truly broken out and made good on the vast potential he always had.
Combine that with United’s ailing attack, this snub comes at the worst possible time for United as not only do they lose a generational talent, he intends to go to their biggest rivals instead.