Ralf Rangnick is known to favour younger players with bags of energy who suit his intense system, which suggested Man United’s Edinson Cavani was not in his plans.
But he has made something of a U-turn as he prepares to welcome Edinson Cavani back into the fray at Manchester United.
The German spoke out about veteran players in 2020, explaining why he’d overlook someone like Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He said: “It’s not my style to focus on a 38-year-old player, not because of talent, but because I prefer to create value and develop talent.

“It made little sense to me the idea of relying on Ibrahimovic or Simon Kjaer, but that’s just my way of seeing things, it’s not necessarily right or wrong. When Ibra said he didn’t know me, he wasn’t wrong. I’ve never met him.“
Cavani was left out of the United squad that beat Crystal Palace on the weekend – Rangnick’s first in charge of the Red Devils – due to an injury.
But Rangnick has said he is keen to welcome Cavani back into the fray at United and appears to have a role in mind for the seasoned forward
“I’m very much looking forward to hopefully next week having Rapha [Varane] back again, Edi Cavani,” said the Man United boss.

“My ambition to work with all the players for most of the season, reduce the number of injuries in the next couple of weeks and months, and have them all on board.”
Cavani is out of contract at the end of the season and unless some drastic happens between now and July is expected to leave Old Trafford.
But last season under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wasn’t entirely plain sailing for Cavani, who was at one point trying to orchestrate a transfer to Boca Juniors.
Boca chief Juan Roman Riquelme revealed Cavani called him to enquire about joining the Argentine side in January 2020.
United were able to convince Cavani to stay with the promise of more game time, but time will tell whether the striker is indeed a key part of Rangnick’s plans.