Marcus Rashford’s car crash near Manchester United’s Carrington base caught the attention of fans around the world. Among the initial reports, the eagle-eye fans caught another report involving the England international and the former Manchester United Manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Solskjaer revealed that two players turned down the armband for the English club during his managerial period.
Solskjaer didn’t reveal the name during the interview, however, The Sun reported that as per their sources, the two Manchester United players were Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford.
🚨 Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba turned down the Manchester United captaincy during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time in charge at Old Trafford.
(Source: Sun Sport) pic.twitter.com/QorQWcnFss
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) September 24, 2023
The duo had their own reasons to turn down the captaincy. Paul Pogba turned down the chance because he was looking to leave the club in the near future, whereas, Rashford felt that he wasn’t ready to be the captain of the club at that point in his career.
Paul Pogba left the club in the summer of 2022 after expiring his contract with the English club. Marcus Rashford is still at the club after a successful 2022/23 season under the new manager Erik ten Hag.
Marcus Rashford crashed his Rolls-Royce after the game with Burnley last night.
Luckily he escaped injury. 🙏pic.twitter.com/WwZy96NWTQ
— Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) September 24, 2023
Solskjaer became the permanent manager of Manchester United in March 2019 after three successful months as a caretaker manager. He went on to manage the club for 149 matches before being sacked after a 4-1 defeat to Watford in the Premier League in November 2021.
During his tenure, Harry Maguire was the main captain of the club, he took over the armband in 2020 from Ashley Young. Maguire’s struggles at Manchester United were well documented during this time period, which might have prompted Solskjaer to turn to Rashford and Pogba for captaincy.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was disappointed when Marcus Rashford turned down the captaincy
In the interview, Solskjaer also revealed that he was “disappointed” when two players rejected the captaincy of Manchester United.
As we now know, Rashford and Pogba were those two players, it is noteworthy to observe that Harry Maguire’s captaincy was under threat way before the arrival of Erik ten Hag.
🗣️ Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has given a brutally honest interview about his time managing Man Utd.#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/QluBKhbqiy
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) September 20, 2023
The rationale behind Solskjaer’s decision was simple, Rashford and Pogba were the biggest stars during his tenure and would have elated some of the pressure from Harry Maguire.
Rashford would have been a fan favorite as club captain, being a product of the youth system of Manchester United. He would be the first permanent club captain since Gary Neville to come out of the youth system of the English club.
Rashford has been club captain on several occasions but has yet to take the role on a permanent basis. The English forward who is still only 25 would have multiple opportunities to take up this prestigious role at the boyhood club.