Manchester United have been blessed with some legendary leaders – but their captains haven’t been too successful in recent years.
Harry Maguire is the latest player to captain the club but he has big shoes to fill, following in the footsteps of the likes of Gary Neville, Roy Keane and Nemanja Vidic.
Here are the 11 permanent Manchester United captains from the Premier League era, ranked by how well they fared with the armband.
11. Ashley Young
Young regularly took on the leadership duties at United but was permanently given the armband by Solskjaer at the start of this season.
The 36-year-old made just 18 appearances in 2019-20 after losing his place in the side to Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Brandon Williams.
Young turned down a new deal at Old Trafford and ended his nine-year stay at the club to join Inter Milan in 2020. He’s now back in the Premier League and back at Aston Villa, playing under United’s former nemesis Steven Gerrard.
10. Antonio Valencia
Valencia was an excellent servant to United and captained the club for their Europa League final win over Ajax in 2017.
Jose Mourino named him as the official club captain ahead of the 2018-19 season, but the full-back struggled with injuries and made just nine appearances that year.
United didn’t offer Valencia a contract extension, so he left the club and joined LDU Quito in 2019 after 10 years at Old Trafford.
9. Harry Maguire
Maguire was named captain at Old Trafford in January 2020, just five months after joining the club from Leicester City. Things haven’t gone to plan since…
“He’s come in and been a leader in the group” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said at the time. “I’ve been, not surprised, but I’ve been impressed by his leadership skills, so Harry will keep on wearing the armband.”
It’s easy to forget now, but Maguire did look a natural fit as Solskjaer’s Red Devils finished runner-up and went unbeaten away from home in the 2020-21 Premier League campaign. Things might have been different were he fit for the Europa League final, too.
Things have suddenly and sharply gone downhill since then, with the England’s international glum demeanour in post-match telling the story of their disastrous form in 2021-22.
He’s now warming the bench while Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez form a promising centre-back partnership.
8. Michael Carrick
After Wayne Rooney’s departure in 2017, Carrick became the longest-serving player in United’s squad and the midfielder was…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…