Rio Ferdinand believes Marcus Rashford could’ve been a potential Manchester United captain (Picture: talkSPORT)
Rio Ferdinand believes Marcus Rashford should’ve had put himself forward to captain Manchester United when Erik ten Hag stripped Harry Maguire of the armband in the summer.
Ten United manager took a big decision to relieve Maguire of the responsibility and installed Bruno Fernandes as skipper.
Fernandes has proven to be a divisive choice and further undermined his position by getting himself suspended for Sunday’s daunting trip to Liverpool by collecting his fifth yellow card of the season.
‘If I was him, being at the club that long and with the status he’s got in the game, when the captaincy came up I’d be wanting to have that armband because I think he’s got the experience and the gravitas to do that,’ Ferdinand told talkSPORT when addressing Rashford’s current malaise.
“We can talk about if he’s world-class or not, but all of these players need to go out there and graft – that’s it.
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‘Wide players, irrelevant of ability, none of the players like Beckham, Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Valencia etc. – they didn’t want to be on the same side of the pitch as where the gaffer was because they would be drilled, chasing back and running after people.
‘Before you talk about ability and getting crosses in and scoring and assisting, you chase that full-back up and down that pitch and you run him into the ground – then you can start playing your football.
‘These fundamentals don’t seem to be there at the moment and that’s the crooks of it. No matter what level you play at – from grassroots and non-league up to the Premier League – the non-negotiable is working.’
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Rashford missed training last Friday but was fit enough to make the bench for Saturday’s defeat and entered the fray as a late subsitute.
The England international was again absent from training on Monday ahead of tomorrow night’s must-win Champions League clash against Bayern Munich.
Anthony Martial also missed the session through illness meaning Rasmus Hojlund is set to spearhead United’s attack.
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