Ralf Rangnick: Jurgen Klopp was right, Manchester United also unlikely to sign unvaccinated players

Updated 27/12/2021 at 09:28 GMT

With most Premier League fixtures increasingly under threat as the coronavirus pandemic surges again, there are renewed concerns over which Premier League players are not taking coronavirus vaccines. Manchester United interim head coach Ralf Rangnick has confirmed, like Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp, that he is not keen to sign unvaccinated players.

Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick

Image credit: Getty Images

Ralf Rangnick has echoed Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp by saying he is reluctant to sign unvaccinated players for Manchester United.

Professional athletes are believed to be disproportionately reluctant to take the coronavirus vaccine, and there have been 14 games in the Premier League delayed this December with many of them caused by Covid-19 cases amongst players.

Klopp revealed in his Liverpool programme notes last week that he had received his third jab and encouraged others to do the same.

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Speaking ahead of United’s games against Newcastle United on Monday night, Rangnick endorsed his compatriot’s views on signing players who have not been jabbed.

“Yes, I think it could be a consideration and I fully understand what Jurgen said,” said Rangnick.

“But it also depends if you want to sign a player and risk him not being available. This is an issue the clubs seriously have to think about.

If you sign a player, knowing from the very first day that he's not been vaccinated, you have to be aware that he might not be available - not only for 10 days, but this could happen regularly in Covid times.

“You had the example of Joshua Kimmich, who was extremely hesitant at the beginning and I think in the meantime he has realised it might be a good idea to get vaccinated.

“He caught Covid and he still has some problems with his lungs. Hopefully he’ll be back after Christmas in the New Year at full strength and can play again for Bayern Munich.

“I think this is an issue where of course everybody can and should have his free will, but I think in football, especially at this level we're playing at, we need to try to convince our players to get vaccinated.”

Rangnick said he was not privy to the full information of which United players had been given a vaccine.

“To be honest, I don’t know which of our players have had two or three vaccinations,” explained Rangnick. “This is a question that only our medical department could answer.

“But I know from our medical department that our ratio of vaccinated players is above the average of the Premier League.

“As I said, it may not just happen once, it could happen several times in the future and therefore it should also be in the interests of players to be vaccinated.

“But in the end it's a decision that each club has to take by themselves and find the best possible solution.”

Jurgen Klopp manager of Liverpool during the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match between Liverpool and Leicester City at Anfield on December 22, 2021 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Image credit: Getty Images

The interim manager described the difficulty of their own coronavirus outbreak, which led to their game against Brentford being postponed.

“Obviously, during those four days, we couldn’t do it,” said Rangnick. “I spoke with most of the players who were either in isolation or positively tested.

“I spoke with 16 or 17 players individually over the phone, to hear how they were and how they were feeling.

We did a lot of work in between, together with my coaching staff, preparing video footage, and we started to show the video footage to them from Tuesday.

“We'll follow up on that because it’s important they really know what it’s about, how we should play, how to find the best possible balance of playing offensively and make use of the offensive players we have.

“But, at the same time, being able to defend and make sure that we get further clean sheets in the future.”