Manchester United manager Ralf Rangnick has suggested the club’s captain should be decided by the players amid questions over Harry Maguire’s suitability.
The England international has come under sharp criticism in recent months over his overall performance, with many of the fans calling for the club to strip him of the captaincy.
Maguire arrived at Old Trafford from Leicester City in an £80 million deal and was given the armband following Ashley Young’s departure to Inter Milan in January 2020.
Rangnick is set to leave the club at the end of the season and seems to have suggested to the incoming manager how he should go about picking his captain
“I understand your question but again it doesn’t make sense because we don’t know what kind of players will be here, what the group will look like,” he responded to a question from a journalist during a press conference.
“I can only tell you what I have done in the past when I was head coach or manager because in Germany it’s called Mannschaftskapitan – the captain of the team.
“I strongly believe the captain should be elected by the team.
“We always had a board of four or five players – we called it the Spielerrat [players’ council] – elected by the players. The player with the highest amount of votes was the team captain at the end. That was how I did it.
“I know a lot of head coaches don’t do it that way. That’s what I would do if I was still the manager next season, but in the end I’m not. This is something that Erik will have to decide.”
Maguire’s woes have been compounded by a knee injury he picked that could see him miss the remainder of the season.
He is not in the squad to face Chelsea on Thursday night, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes candidates for the armband.
