Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves disagree about potential role of Man United forward

Paul Scholes and Owen Hargreaves have disagreed about Marcus Rashford’s suitability to wear the Manchester United captain’s armband in the future.

The former United pairing worked alongside some of the best leaders in the club’s recent history.

Currently, Bruno Fernandes is taking control of the armband, with Harry Maguire not a first-choice option in the defence anymore.

The likes of Casemiro, Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez, alongside the Portuguese midfielder, make up a solid leadership group at Old Trafford.

Rashford has been at the club since his youth and is one of the longest-serving players in the current squad. Despite this, Scholes does not believe he will take the captaincy in the future.

“I don’t really see him as a leader,” Scholes told BT Sport. “I think he’s a leader by performance but not quite vocal or as a character as a captain should be.

“One thing we have to say about Rashford is that he’s been brilliant this season. He’s turned his career around in the space of time, in three-quarters of the season.” 

However, Hargreaves suggests that the 25-year-old could adapt to the role and likens his type of potential leadership to Kylian Mbappe.

“I think United have a lot of leaders now – De Gea, Casemiro, Varane, Martinez is a natural leader. I think Marcus could be one of those,” he added. “You look at Kylian Mbappe at 24 he’s the captain of PSG.

“I think he’s [Rashford] not your typical Bryan Robson, [Eric] Cantona, that type, but he’s the star player – he’s been brilliant this season.

“He could have that responsibility and grow into the role. I wouldn’t mind seeing that. He’s produced after coming out of a really difficult phase and he’s obviously the future of this football club.

“I think giving him more responsibility wouldn’t be a bad thing, he could grow into it, I think captains are a lot different from what they were when we played.”

Rashford has worn the captain’s armband on one occasion in 2019/20 in a loss against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup.