Harry Maguire has been stripped of the captaincy by Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag, though the Dutchman appears to have not yet decided who will be his new skipper
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Erik ten Hag is yet to decide on who will Manchester United’s next captain, despite axing Harry Maguire.
Maguire announced he had held a meeting with the United boss on Sunday, in which the Dutchman informed the defender he would no longer be skipper. The England international was first handed the role by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But he fell down the pecking order under Ten Hag last season, with Raphael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw all ahead of him in the Dutchman’s central defensive ranks. Now he has had a further drop in status after being stripped of the captaincy.
United confirmed that in a statement, which read: “Everyone at Manchester United thanks Harry for his contribution as captain over the past three-and-a-half years. The manager will announce the new captain in due course, after he has informed the players.”
Maguire announced the decision in his own statement earlier on Sunday. In that statement, the England international admitted he was “extremely disappointed” that Ten Hag had opted to make the change.
“After discussions with the manager today he has informed me he is changing captain. He outlined his reasons to me and whilst I’m personally extremely disappointed, I will continue to give my all every time I wear the shirt,” he said.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who should Erik ten Hag name as Manchester United’s next captain?Comment below.
Erik ten Hag did not inform Manchester United’s squad of their new captain despite already stripping Harry Maguire of the role (
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“So I wanted to say a massive thank you to the Manchester United fans for all their brilliant support whilst I’ve been wearing the armband. Since the day I took on the role, it’s been a huge privilege to lead Manchester United and one of the proudest moments of my career.
“It’s one of the greatest honours in club football. I’ve done everything I possibly could to help United be successful - on and off the field. I will always be grateful to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for first giving me the responsibility and I wish whoever now takes it on every success and they will have my full support.”
The decision, which Ten Hag made without consulting any of his players, is likely to spell the end for Maguire’s career at Old Trafford.
United played their first friendly of pre-season against Leeds last week, with Varane named as captain. Following the 2-0 win over the Championship side, Ten Hag hailed the Frenchman for his leadership.
“He’s fantastic. He’s had a fantastic personality from the first moment I met him and, of course, I know him over the years and what he already achieved at Real Madrid and at France. That’s unbelievable,” Ten Hag said.
“You think when you are young, you can hardly believe you can achieve such things. But Rapha did. So that is so huge. And so we are full of respect from everyone around United internally and also you see the fans they admire him.
“It’s the first game and I think we have seen some good things. We’ve already trained over the last year, so we have a good foundation. We are now one week [into] training. We presented the rules and the principles. And what I see, what can I say: we have seen some good stuff.”
