Manchester United are captained by skipper Harry Maguire but Ralf Rangnick has encouraged Erik ten Hag to hold a vote on who should be the club’s captain next season.
Ralf Rangnick has opted out of backing Harry Maguire as Manchester United captain, insisting the club’s players should vote next season to see who they want as skipper.
The German will step down from his caretaker role this summer with Erik ten Hag coming to take over at Old Trafford. The current Ajax boss has a host of issues to deal with, one being who dons the armband going forward. Maguire was made captain early in his United career but faced criticism throughout his tenure in charge.
His performances have plummeted this term which has not helped his cause while the return of captain Cristiano Ronaldo to his former clubs has sparked rumors of internal rumblings. Rangnick has kept Maguire as skipper since taking charge, but admitted player turnover could lead to a change of captain.
He said: “Again I understand your question, but again I think it doesn’t make sense because you don’t know what kind of players will be here, what the squad will look like. I can’t what to say what I did in the past, when I was a manager or coach, because in Germany it’s called ‘match kapitan’, so the captain of the team.
“I strongly believe that the captain should be elected by the team because he is called the team manager, and we have always done that. We have always had a council of four or five players, we called the ‘spielkapitan’, elected by the players, the player with the most votes was the team captain at the end.
“That’s how I did it, I know not many head coaches do it that way.” Both Liverpool and Arsenal have used such strategies, but with varying degrees of success. Jordan Henderson often dons the armband when on the pitch, but the club has a leadership group, rather than an elected man.
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Jurgen Klopp said at the start of the season: “We had 3 [captains] and players voted for another 3. Hendo [Jordan Henderson]milly [James Milner, Virg[il van Dijk] and then it’s Trent [Alexander-Arnold]Robbo [Andy Robertson] and Alison.”
Arsenal, however, also used such a strategy, but it quickly fell apart at the Emirates during Unai Emery’s tenure. In 2019, North Londoners voted who they wanted to lead the team and Granit Xhaka came out on top. The Swiss midfielder joined the club in 2016 but faced criticism throughout his time at the Gunners.
His stint as captain only lasted a few months before facing the club’s supporters in a draw against Crystal Palace. Xhaka was then removed from the first XI and stripped of the armband. The decision to vote for captain was seen as a lack of leadership by the manager at the time, who some say should have made the decision himself.
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