Struber profiled as Rangnick eyes ex-Barnsley boss in Man Utd backroom shake up

Manchester United are eyeing up former Barnsley boss Gerhard Struber, according to reports.

The Red Devils recently hired Ralf Rangnick as their interim manager, after dispensing with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The 63-year-old will take charge until the end of the season before moving upstairs to take on a consultancy role at the Premier League giants.

And now it's claimed that United want to poach Struber to become Rangnick's number two.

The 44-year-old managed Barnsley from November 2019 to October 2020. He miraculously kept them in the Championship in the 2019-20 season.

Going into the final game of the season they needed to win at promotion-chasing Brentford - and they did so, only in the final minute to seal a sensational survival.

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Not long after that Struber was poached by MLS side New York Red Bulls, where he remains today.

The 44-year-old exhibits a 37 per cent win rate and could only guide the club to 7th in their conference this year.

But now The Sun claim that Rangnick wants Struber in as his assistant manager. The two know each other from their time together in Austria at Red Bull Salzburg.

United are a coach light following Michael Carrick's departure from the club. Carrick took charge of three games but following the midweek win over Arsenal he exited the club for good.

Rangnick is said to rate Struber highly and a reunion could now be on the cards.

Barnsley's former chief executive Dane Murphy was full of praise when Struber was poached last year.

He said at the time: "I must start by thanking Gerhard for the last 11 months.

"Tasked with maintaining the Club's Championship status, he took a difficult position at Oakwell last November.

"Despite the seven point deficit and Covid-19, his belief never wavered and the night at Brentford will live long in the memory of all supporters.

"As much as we wanted Gerhard to remain at Oakwell we were not in a position to deny him this opportunity with a buy-out clause in his contract and his connection within the Red Bull set-up."

Struber's background is not the stereotypical one of a football manager. He worked full-time in sales and management up until 2014.

That is when he quit his post to focus fully on football coaching. He worked his way up from youth football at Salzburg before eventually got the top job at FC Liefering. He then had a short spell at Wolfsberger AC before his move to Barnsley.

As for Rangnick, he is set to take charge of his first game when United welcome Crystal Palace to Old Trafford on Sunday.

Speaking at his official unveiling, Rangnick said: "Obviously I've watched the latest games. I watched the games against Watford and against Chelsea, and against Liverpool and Manchester City.

"The major target for me in the next couple of days and weeks is to bring more balance and control into the team.

"If you look at the total number of goals conceded, it's almost two on average per game, and this is just too much.

"This is my approach - to help the team to get more balance, more control of the game."