Returning Manchester United assistant supervisor Steve McClaren has hinted that Harry Maguire’s captaincy could possibly be shared on the membership subsequent season.
Talking on The McClaren Efficiency Podcast (by way of The Mirror), Erik ten Hag’s proper hand man defined that United want “cultural architects” – leaders who will command the respect of the squad and assist to ship out the appropriate messages about perspective, dedication and motivation.
And whereas he talked about no names, the previous assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson clearly instructed that Maguire wouldn’t be anticipated to tackle the function alone any extra.
“Who are you able to construct this crew round?” he stated.
“There’s not one chief, there’s not one captain, there are a number of lieutenants they usually’re all connectors and related to one another.
“Some by their standing, some by their expertise and a few by their perspective to make one another higher.”
After all, there can’t be a number of gamers carrying the armband on the similar time, however the 61 yr outdated has opened the door to a state of affairs the place the honour can be shared amongst a number of gamers.
Maguire’s performances final season had been properly beneath par and he captained a ship that was at instances like soccer’s equal of the Titanic.
He additionally marshalled a defence that shipped a report variety of targets within the membership’s historical past.
If McClaren’s standards for figuring out who must be captain are standing, expertise and perspective to make one another higher, it’s laborious to see whether or not Maguire qualifies for any of those as issues stand.
It has been argued many times that a part of the rationale for Maguire’s struggles may certainly be that he has to hold the additional burden of the captaincy.
On paper, each Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes have large ticks by all three standards, however they’re each additionally vulnerable to poor physique language, throwing their arms within the air when issues go fallacious, one thing that McClaren openly criticised in his earlier podcast.
David de Gea is one other candidate, though there are disadvantages to creating the goalkeeper captain when it comes to his availability to be concerned round all areas of the pitch.
