Rio Ferdinand claims Man Utd have NO leaders and insists Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes are NOT captain material
MANCHESTER UNITED legend Rio Ferdinand insisted the club have NO leaders as Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes are NOT captain material.
The Red Devils have endured a slow start to the Premier League campaign, winning four out of eight games and occupy tenth spot after scraping past second-bottom West Brom on Saturday.
Fernandes scored the winning penalty in a 1-0 victory over the Baggies but United were indebted to VAR – which Ferdinand branded a 'disgrace'.
The former United skipper ripped into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side, blasting the first team for being devoid of leadership options.
Ahead of United's 4-1 Champions League win over Istanbul Basaksehir, Ferdinand told BT Sport: "We were there the other day watching this game [West Brom].
"It's not just about Ole on the sidelines, or Mike Phelan or Michael Carrick talking on the sidelines, but sometimes you need a player.
"Bruno, who you don't mind giving the ball away because he is the creative spark right, but he gave the ball away very cheaply probably about four times before half-time.
"I am sitting there looking around the team thinking who is going to be onto him? Who is going to be telling him? I would have been screaming."
Host Gary Lineker described club captain Maguire and Portuguese midfielder Fernandes as leaders in the United dressing room but Ferdinand wasn't having any of it.
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He added: "I don't think they are to be honest. If you are being brutal, I don't think any of them have shown any signs.
"Maybe Bruno – a new player coming in and taking responsibility in interviews, and on the pitch you can see he demands the ball and takes responsibility that way – but I don't see anybody who is going to ruffle feathers or pull someone aside and say 'listen, you have given possession away cheaply the last three times, sort yourself out'.
"Having no fans in the stadium is disgusting and we hate it but it has opened my eyes to see that there aren't many leaders playing football at the moment and Man United are suffering from that."
Paul Scholes appeared to agree with former team-mate Ferdinand's brutal assessment of the United squad as he also panned the side's leaders.
Scholes said: "It is a very quiet team, it's such a quiet team.
"And when you have young players in your team like a Rashford and Martial – I know they have played a lot of games – but sometimes they still need coaching.
"They still need telling when they've got to run in the right areas. It is all about patience as well with this team.
"They have the quality to provide chances, we know that, but they do struggle."
Scholes was left baffled by Fernandes' decision to pass up a hat-trick chance by allowing Marcus Rashford to take United's penalty against Istanbul.
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