Erik ten Hag would be left with just four realistic options to captain Manchester United if Bruno Fernandes was to depart the club.
Various reports understand the United captain is admired by Paris Saint-Germain, who are considering a move for the midfielder. When Ten Hag stripped the armband from Harry Maguire, who had lost his place in the team, Fernandes was named captain of the Red Devils.
While the likes of Roy Keane fumed at the decision, Ten Hag had precious few options to take over the responsibility from the England international. If Fernandes were to move to the French capital, the United boss would have even fewer.
According to L’Equipe, PSG ‘really appreciate’ Fernandes and are considering a swoop for the midfielder, who has contributed 79 goals and 66 assists in 233 appearances in all competitions. Out of all the candidates, Luke Shaw appears to be one of the few realistic choices to take over the armband, should Fernandes depart.
He has been at Old Trafford since 2014 and is the longest-serving player at United. Yet, Shaw’s season was bogged down by injuries and handing him such an important responsibility may be risky.
Giving the armband back to Maguire would be as humiliating as it would be impractical for Ten Hag, having signed Leny Yoro for a fee that could cost up to £58.9m – United also continue to be linked with Matthijs de Ligt. As well as being an enormous U-turn for Ten Hag, Maguire is no longer a first-choice defender and would not be a suitable option as captain, despite his leadership qualities.
Another potential option would be to give the armband to Marcus Rashford. He is born and bred at Old Trafford and may even thrive off the responsibility of leading the club he has been at since he was a child.
Yet, he endured a difficult campaign on and off the pitch last season and it would not be the right time to give him the added pressure of being United’s captain. Casemiro is a born winner who has tons of trophies at Real Madrid, but the Brazilian struggled last season and would surely be dropped if United signed one of Manuel Ugarte, Martin Zubimendi or Youssouf Fofana
If Ten Hag has to choose a skipper, there are no options who are experienced professionals, regular fixtures in the first team, rarely injured and popular amongst team-mates and fans. Lisandro Martinez meets three of those requirements.
He enjoyed an outstanding debut campaign where he proved all of those who said he was too small to play in the Premier League wrong. Yet, similarly to Shaw, the last campaign was also blighted by injuries.
There appears to be no outstanding choice for Ten Hag were Fernandes to leave the club and head to PSG. In May, Fernandes said: “The club needs to want me. I feel the club wants me to be a part of the future. As I said always, I don’t want to be a player that the club doesn’t want to have. If for some reason they don’t want to have me, I will go. But if they want me, I will stay.”
If they haven’t already, Ten Hag and United need to ensure Fernandes knows he is loved and part of the future at the club. Otherwise, another difficult captaincy decision awaits them.