“I was very disappointed” – Solskjaer’s original first choice Manchester United captains revealed

It has been revealed that both Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba “turned down” the Manchester United captaincy under Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

Manchester United‘s captaincy status has been a big talking point over the last five years, with the club having five captains in the last six years since Wayne Rooney left the club in the summer of 2017.

During Ole Gunnar Solskjær‘s reign, the captain’s armband was handed to then-new signing Harry Maguire after Ashley Young left the club in early 2020, although the Norwegian manager has since revealed that he offered it to other players before Maguire accepted the role.

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“I won’t name names but I was very disappointed when a couple turned down the chance to be captain,” he said in a recent interview.

“I was also disappointed when others said they wouldn’t play or train because they wanted to force their way out.”

It has now been revealed that it was Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford who were both offered the armband, but neither accepted it for their respective reasons.

“Paul Pogba was offered it but said he wanted to leave the club so turned it down,” a source told The Sun.

“Rashford was also asked to take the captaincy but he said he didn’t think he was ready for it.”

Under Erik ten Hag, Bruno Fernandes is now the club captain, with Harry Maguire having been stripped of his duties by the Dutch manager during the recent summer – Maguire was on course to leave for West Ham in a £30 million deal, but this was derailed by an impasse relating to personal terms.