Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick has dismissed criticism from the brother of Jesse Lingard that he did not receive a farewell at Old Trafford against Brentford. Juan Mata and Phil Jones who are expected to leave at the end of the season were given one last appearance in front of the Old Trafford faithful. Lingard will also be leaving this season but was left on the bench with the manager bringing on Edison Cavani instead.
“To start with, in the last couple of weeks under my tenure, he has played far more games than he used to. Secondly, on game day against Chelsea (on April 28) he asked me to release him from the game and training the following day for personal family reasons,” Ralf Rangnick said about Jesse Lingard. “And this was the reason. With only three substitutes I had to make a decision between Edinson Cavani and Jesse Lingard, or the young (Alejandro Garnacho), who I would have loved to have brought on and given a chance to play. I took the decision to bring on Edinson. Had I not brought on Edinson someone else might have asked if it’s classless not to bring on Cavani or Garnacho. You have to make a decision and this will not be to the liking of everybody and this is part of the game.”
“We will definitely speak at the end of the season,” he added. “Both Erik and I want to have our full focus on the outstanding games. He has another three games to play and will do everything to try and win the title and the league in the Netherlands, and we have agreed that we will chat and speak about everything at the end of the season.”
