Ryan Giggs tipped to succeed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United

Giggs' former teammates has backed him to succeed at Old Trafford as a coach

Ryan Giggs has boosted his chances of being hired as Manchester United boss with his success with Wales, Mark Hughes has said. Giggs won 13 Premier League titles across 24 years at Manchester United and ended his time there as a coach under Louis Van Gall in the 2015/16 season. He left with José Mourinho's arrival in the dugout and has since gone on to manage Wales, for whom he made just 64 appearances as a player. His appointment was criticised due to his lack of experience as a first team manager, except for a brief spell as player manager in 2013/14 after David Moyes was sacked by United. But his progress with the Welsh side has been praised, in particular by Giggs' former teammate at both club and national level Mark Hughes. “I think Ryan is in a good place in his management career,” Hughes, who managed Giggs when he was Wales boss, told the BBC. “He is on an upward trend. He is probably more likely to get an opportunity at United than he was when van Gaal left in 2016.

“Maybe they felt his management CV wasn’t strong enough at that point, but if he goes to the European Championship and does well, then there’s no reason why he won’t be in the frame.”

Hughes suggested United should have hired Giggs in 2016 but opted for Mourinho in order to match the 'big name' appointment by their neighbours Man City, who brought in Pep Guardiola.

“Giggs worked very closely with Van Gaal..., which I felt was a good decision. I thought that was with a view to him taking over the role when Van Gaal left. It wasn’t to be, and they decided to go for a bigger name - Mourinho,” he said.

“I think that was pushed maybe a little bit because of the appointment at City of Guardiola. Maybe they felt they needed like for like, which probably affected Ryan’s chances.”