Rangnick has always believed that Thomas Tuchel possessed the required attributes to succeed as a manager, and he considers his German compatriot to be one of the best players to have come out of his country. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, who had previously played under Rangnick with SSV Ulm in the late 1990s until an injury ended his playing career, was also given his first coaching opportunity by the temporary United manager.

When Manchester United takes on Chelsea at Old Trafford tonight, they will be pitting their wits against each other in the dugout for the first time (7.45pm). But what was it about Tuchel that made him stand out on the training ground before he was forced to retire at the age of twenty-four years old?

"He was one of my players at SSV Ulm, unfortunately just for six months because he had major knee problems that led him to terminate and conclude his career at a very, very early stage," Rangnick remarked during a QA session with MUFC's press corps. However, even throughout those six months, it was clear that he was always asking questions.

It was quite rare in Germany at the time, but we used a back-four and zonal marking, specifically ball-orientated zonal marking. After a couple of weeks or months of managing a player, you can tell whether or not that individual aspires to be a manager, head coach, or sporting director.

Rangnick went on to say: "When it came to Thomas, I wasn't all that surprised that he chose that road. Eventually, when I was the head coach at Stuttgart, he joined us as our U15s coach. He later moved on to Mainz as the U23s coach, having previously served as the U19s coach.

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"At the time, I was playing for Hoffenheim. I tried to persuade him to take over as coach of our U23s, but Mainz's sporting director, Christian Heidel, realized how fortunate he was to have Jurgen Klopp as a coach within his own ranks and refused to allow him leave.

"In just a few months, he became the head coach of Mainz and went on to manage Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, and most recently, the English Premier League club Chelsea. As a coach, he is one of the best we have had in Germany over the years."