French World Cup winning star, Paul Pogba is reportedly in line to become Manchester United ‘s new captain. United skipper Antonio Valencia looks set to leave Old Trafford this summer after 10 years at the club. The 33-year-old was given the armband by Jose Mourinho in the summer, but has managed just eight appearances this season – and a calf complaint has been partly behind why he has made just one start under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
It’s claimed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is set to hand the Manchester United captaincy to Paul Pogba, but former skipper Bryan Robson believes there are two candidates more suitable for the position. Pogba was stripped of vice-captaincy duties following a series of bust-ups with Jose Mourinho but he has been in brilliant form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
With current club captain Antonio Valencia set to leave, Solskjaer is deciding upon a new captain and The Sun claims Pogba is the man at the head of the queue. But Robson, who won two Premier Leagues and three FA Cups with United while also captaining England on 65 occasions, believes Chris Smalling and Ander Herrera would be the best choices for the role. ‘In the current squad, because of the way they try to organise, they communicate with team-mates, I think we only have two who are quite good at that,’ he told Sport Witness.
‘So we have Chris Smalling, who tries to organise, he shouts at people, he organises people. And then Ander Herrera. I’ve watched him in training, he’s an organiser. And that’s what you need from your captain.’ While Robson believes Smalling and Herrera are good candidates, he’s unconvinced by Pogba’s credentials. ‘I mean, sometimes you can go with “Paul Pogba could be a captain”, but Paul would just be the best player,’ he added.
‘So he’s the best player, so you give him the captaincy because he’s the best player. But Paul plays more of an individual sort of side. ‘He’s not really saying to people “you come here, you come here, push forward”, or just applaud your teammate. When they give the ball away, you encourage them. You don’t always tell everybody off. ‘Sometimes you have to encourage your teammates, you can’t just be telling people off all the time… I think Herrera and Smalling are two captains.’
Solskjaer, who was appointed in his stead on a caretaker basis, allowed Valencia to keep the captain’s armband, but he has only featured once for the club in 2019. Manchester United are back in Premier League action on Saturday at home to Southampton and they will be looking to keep up the pressure on Arsenal in the race for a top-four finish