Earlier today, Stretty News evaluated four different candidates for the captain’s armband once Antonio Valencia leaves Manchester United.
BBC Sport reported on Friday that Valencia is set to leave United this summer as a free agent.
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There are several names doing the rounds for the captaincy role such as Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, David de Gea and Ashley Young.
But when former United captain Bryan Robson visited São Paulo in Brazil to meet fans, DHL invited Sport Witness to interview Captain Marvel.
They asked the question about who should be the next United captain with Valencia’s future a doubt.
“In the current squad, because of the way they try to organise, they communicate with teammates, I think we only have two who are quite good at that,” Robson explained to 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.
“I mean, sometimes you can go with ‘Paul Pogba could be a captain’, but Paul would just be the best player. 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.”
Robson is an icon and his thoughts carry more weight than others.
He also has better access than any of us to truly assess the situation and options available.
You would think a hard line, like Pogba being the best player not necessarily making him captain material, would get back to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as well. The Norwegian is not afraid to take advice from senior figures of the club’s history.
And, it doesn’t take away from the fact Pogba can still have a big influence on the team, showing additional leadership to the captain, if that’s truly his character.
Out of the two options tipped by Captain Marvel, Herrera would warrant the role more than Smalling, who probably won’t be in the best starting eleven next season if United sign a world-class defender.
There would have been doubts over Herrera’s role in the team had he not revived under Solskjaer. He’s been excellent in the middle alongside Pogba and Nemanja Matic, the manager’s preferred midfield trio.
Who would you have as captain next?
