Neville expects interim boss Rangnick, who has seen the current squad up close and personal, to have strong views on who should stay and who should go.
“Recruitment is the most important job in a football club,” he said. “If you get the players wrong, you’re struggling.
“Man Utd have repeatedly flip-flopped over a 10 year period to different philosophies. There have been moments that I believed they were on the right track but how it’s unravelled in the last 8-10 months, from being in a Europa League final to where it is now is alarming.
“I can’t explain it. I don’t think any Man Utd fan can explain it, or probably anyone inside the club can explain why it’s gone from a level which wasn’t at the very top but certainly going in the right direction, to a point where that dressing room looks broken in spirit, in energy, in belief in each other, in likeability of each other as a group.
Neville believes the impact of those results and United’s wretched run of form which has seen them win just four of their last 14 matches could affect the trajectory of players’ careers – and Ten Hag may have to take that into account when he assesses who from the current squad he wants to bring with him on the journey.
“The players have completely lost their confidence and belief,” said Neville. “They don’t want to play football for Manchester United at this moment in time. That’s not they don’t want to play football for the club – they don’t want to play football. They want the season to finish.
“You can see it in their eyes when they warm up, when they walk out, when they’re playing. They just want these games over. But the problem is there is no hiding place at this club. They’ve got Arsenal Saturday, Chelsea next Thursday where all the eyes are still going to be on them and they’re going to have to try to turn up. They’ve got to find something from somewhere.
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“I want to be careful in saying there’s long-lasting damage but the mental impact of what’s happening at the club in this moment in time, with the types of defeats they’re suffering, the type of criticism they’re getting, the fans booing them, that’s going to have long-lasting impact on some of those lads to the point where Ten Hag will have to make a decision whether he can recover it – and with some of them he may not be able to. It’s getting that bad.
“There’s a big job to do in many different aspects. The first job is to decide who he wants to keep that’s currently there and then he’s got to decide who he wants to get in with him to make sure that confidence, that belief, that spirit in the dressing room can start to rise.”