Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford ‘were the two players to turn down the Man United captaincy under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’ after the Norwegian lifted the lid on his doomed Old Trafford reign earlier this week
A new claim suggests Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford are the players to turn down the chance to captain Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
This week, the Norwegian revealed to The Athletic how his spell as club manager at Old Trafford fell apart, with his side losing 38 games and drawing a further 33 in his 149-game spell.
He said some of the club’s top stars had turned down the chance of captaincy, but did not name those who chose not to take on the position of responsibility.
But The Sun report quotes an unnamed source who highlighted Pogba and Rashford as the stars who turned down the opportunity.
The source said: ‘Paul Pogba was offered it but said he wanted to leave the club so turned it down.
Paul Pogba has been named as one of the players the Man United captain will dismiss
Marcus Rashford also declined the armband during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time in charge
‘Rashford was also asked to take on the captaincy but he didn’t think he was ready.’
Pogba was at Man United from 2016 to 2022 before rejoining Juventus after his contract expired. Rashford remains at the club where he has played since his youth career but is not captain, while Bruno Fernandes now takes on that role.
In his interview this week, Solskjaer said he was ‘very disappointed when a couple turned down the opportunity to become captain’.
He also hit out at others who refused to train or play in Manchester United matches in a bid to leave the club.
Antonio Valencia was captain when Solskjaer took over as caretaker manager at Old Trafford in December 2018, before being installed as Manchester United’s permanent manager three months later.
When the Ecuadorian left, the armband went to Ashley Young for six months before he left for Inter Milan.
At that time, Harry Maguire was appointed club captain, an honor he officially retained until this season when Fernandes took over.
Antonio Valencia was skipper when Solskjaer became agent in December 2018
Bruno Fernandes officially took over the Man United captaincy at the start of this season
