Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick warns players to settle disputes in private

Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial have publicly disputed manager’s comments in past month

Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick (Manchester United via Getty Images)

Ralf Rangnick has admitted that he would prefer his Manchester United players to address disagreements in private rather than social media after public disputes with two players in the space of a month.

Jesse Lingard last week contradicted the United manager's claim that the 29-year-old had asked for time to "clear his mind" after a proposed loan move to Newcastle United broke down.

Lingard's comments followed those of team-mate Anthony Martial, who hit back last month when Rangnick suggested that the France international had refused to to join up with the squad for a trip to play Aston Villa.

Martial has since joined Sevilla on loan, while Lingard is set to be available for Monday's Premier League meeting with Burnley after returning to training.

Rangnick has stood by his version of events in both the Martial and Lingard disputes, albeit while insisting that there has been no rift with either player.

On Monday, Rangnick said that he and Lingard have a "very good relationship". "There are no problems whatsoever between myself and Jesse and vice versa," he added. "I'm very happy to have him in the squad."

The United interim manager did suggest, however, that he would prefer that any future disagreements were settled in private behind closed doors rather than via social media.

"It’s always better," he said, when asked if he would prefer such matters to be discussed in-house. "I never ever read or communicate by those social media accounts.

"I don’t exist there and wouldn’t have time to do that so therefore it’s always better and I always communicate with the players directly.

"I did that with Anthony Martial and Jesse but maybe I’m a different kind of generation.

"My generation didn’t grow up with those kind of things. I can even remember a time when there were no mobile phones or internet so for me it’s always better to communicate directly.

"But again, it’s time now to look ahead. I know in both cases what I said to the players and what happened so for me there’s no reason to discuss this anymore."