U.S.'s Chris Armas Joins Ralf Rangnick's Staff at Manchester United
This season in MLS was not a memorable one for Chris Armas, but he's ending his year with a new, and prestigious, door opening abroad.
Armas, the former U.S. international and Toronto FC coach, will be joining Ralf Rangnick's coaching staff at Manchester United, the manager confirmed on Tuesday. The connection isn't random, as Armas was previously in the Red Bull family as an assistant and head coach in New York, all while Rangnick was Red Bull's head of sport and development. Rangnick has shown his affinity for Red Bull's American coaches before, by bringing Jesse Marsch to Leipzig as an assistant before Marsch's appointment as Salzburg coach. Coincidentally, Marsch on Sunday was let go from his post as Leipzig manager just four months into his tenure as Julian Nagelsmann's replacement.
It was Marsch whom Armas replaced as Red Bulls manager a few months into the 2018 MLS season, and he guided the Red Bulls to the Supporters' Shield and an Eastern Conference final berth immediately after. The success was not sustained, though, with the Red Bulls falling out of the playoffs in the first round the following season and Armas not making it all the way through the '20 campaign. He landed in Toronto for '21, but he was fired after just 11 matches, with his time there culminating with a 7–1 defeat to D.C. United.
Nevertheless, he's joining one of the world's most storied clubs, at least through May. Rangnick made his managerial debut Sunday in an uninspiring 1–0 home win over Crystal Palace. He's signed on as an interim manager, though he will stay on as a consultant for two years as part of his contract, and becoming permanent manager can't fully be ruled out, either.
It all adds up to a unique opportunity for Armas, with U.S. coaches in the Premier League a rarity, despite the amount of American ownership of clubs in England's top flight. More recently, Bob Bradley, who coached Armas when he was a player at the Chicago Fire, was briefly Swansea City's manager in 2016, while German-American manager David Wagner coached Huddersfield Town to promotion for the '17–18 season.
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