Man United are rejected by New York Red Bulls boss Gerhard Struber over offer to become Ralf Rangnick’s assistant manager despite previously working with the interim manager at Red Bull Salzburg.

Gerhard Struber has rejected Manchester United’s approach for the assistant manager role next to Ralf Rangnick at Old Trafford.

United made contact with the Austrian last week, with the new interim boss said to favour him highly.

Rangnick and Struber, who is currently the head coach at MLS side at New York Red Bulls, previously worked together at Red Bull Salzburg.

The 44-year-old was the youth team coach at Salzburg and is now regarded as one of the most talented young coaches in football.

But the Austrian has rejected the offer to reunite with the German manager in Manchester, preferring to continue his work in the MLS, according to The Sun.

Struber did not want to take the demotion he would have to at Old Trafford, stepping down from from head coach to assistant. 

Struber told Austrian Sky Sports: ‘There has been a request.

‘It’s no secret that Ralf Rangnick and us know and appreciate us well and appreciate very much.

‘At the same time I have in New York, which also makes me look very hopefully into the future and therefore I do not want to give up with New York overnight.

‘I have a longer-term contract there and still have a lot of goals with an ambitious team.’

United would have had to buy Struber out of his contract at New York, which has two years left, and the club were said to be reluctant to pay the hefty compensation fee for what would be a brief spell. 

United’s new interim boss Rangnick took charge of his first game on Sunday as the Red Devils clinched three points in a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace.  

Following Michael Carrick’s departure from the club after their 3-2 win over Arsenal, the 63-year-old is said to want to surround himself with staff who share his footballing philosophy.

Rangnick is contracted to work for United in a consultancy role for a further two years after this, but the German admitted on Friday that he could remain in the dugout, having twice taken over as coach of RB Leipzig while serving as the club’s director of football.

‘Right now, I’m fully aware they (United) might be looking for a new manager,’ said Rangnick at his first press conference at Old Trafford.

‘If they will then speak with me about that, we will see. Maybe if they ask my opinion and everything goes well and we develop the team, I might even make the same recommendation to the board that I did at Leipzig twice when I recommended it might be a good idea to keep working with me for one year. 

‘I can work in both positions. Right now, I feel and think and will very much want to work as a coach, head coach and team manager. This is what I’ve done in, I would say, 90 per cent of the past 25 years in my career.

‘But this is all hypothetical. The people with whom I have spoken so far have been very clear that we’re talking about a six-and-a-half-month role as a manager currently. We have never spoken about what will happen in the summer.’