Paul Pogba is reportedly being considered for the Manchester United captaincy by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the new season.
Current skipper Antonio Valencia will depart Old Trafford upon the expiry of his contract.
Now the Norwegian boss is looking to appoint a new leader with the Frenchman’s name mentioned as a contender alongside Ashley Young.
With Real Madrid lurking in the background, it’s believed handing Pogba the captaincy could help him stay at United.
But Danny Mills believes they could make a major mistake if they chose to do so.
He told talkSPORT’s Drivetime: “How much power do you give one person?
“Commercially for England and the FA, David Beckham was absolutely huge, but it becomes an issue when he starts to dictate when you train, what restaurants you go to, when you eat, what you do, the times of training. Sven and the FA allowed him that power.”
Mills claims Beckham had the final say on what time the players trained and where and when they ate.
While the former England defender isn’t suggesting it would work similarly under Pogba, he was keen to relay the importance the armband holds in a modern dressing room.
“Well, for some of the more senior players there was a little bit of an issue. It was fine to start with, because he was captain and that’s OK, but there was a point where clearly Sven and the FA had given him a little bit too much power to start dictating things,” he added.
“We had senior players in that dressing room, the likes of David Seaman, Martin Keown, Teddy Sheringham, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen and there was a bit of a tipping point, like… ‘hang on a minute’.
“It wasn’t David Beckham’s fault. If you give somebody that power, of course, you’re going to use it and you’re going to wield it as you want.
“If Manchester United do a very similar thing with Paul Pogba…
“He is already the pin-up boy for Manchester United. He’s on all the posters, he is what sells, he is the main reason why they have got a lot of these commercial contracts and brings a lot of money into the club.
“If you start giving him even more power and give him captaincy, his attitude is not the greatest and we’ve seen this season that he can down tools at times. His attitude is not always spot on.
“I just think it’s a very slippery slope to go down.”