Manchester United legend Patrice Evra has publicly called on head coach Ruben Amorim to return the captaincy to Harry Maguire.
Bruno Fernandes was handed the armband by Erik ten Hag in 2023 after the Dutch coach stripped Maguire of his duties.
Maguire’s status and prominence diminished under Ten Hag, who clearly favoured a centre-back pairing of Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane. Varane departed United in the summer.
Fernandes has proven to be United’s primary source of creativity but his leadership skills have frequently been called into question.
The likes of Gary Neville and Roy Keane have previously slammed the Portugal international for his theatrics on the pitch, especially when the Red Devils are under the cosh.
Fernandes was shown his third red card of the season in the Boxing Day defeat to Wolves at the Molineux. This caused him to miss United’s next game, which ended in a 2-0 loss at the hands of Newcastle.
Earlier today, Amorim confirmed that United have decided to trigger the one-year extension clause contained in Maguire’s contract.
Amorim labelled Maguire “a leader” while admitting that the 20-time English champions are “starving” for leaders within the ranks.
The United boss also said about Maguire, “We need him a lot and also he has to improve as a leader because we all know the situation that he had here but we need him a lot in this moment so we are going to trigger happily the option for Harry.”
Reacting to the news of Maguire’s contract extension by an additional 12 months, Evra wrote on Instagram, “Give him the armband back!!!!”
“After all he been through showing resilience and leadership.”
🚨 Patrice Evra: “Give Harry Maguire the armband back!”.
“After all he’s been trough showing resilience and leadership”. pic.twitter.com/Puax5sb1Db
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 3, 2025
United are back in action on Sunday when they face Liverpool at Anfield. Kick-off is at 16:30 GMT.
Featured image Octavio Passos via Getty Images
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Derick Kinoti
Derick Kinoti is a football writer at The Peoples Person who has covered Manchester United and the game extensively for many years. He is a keen analyst with expertise in SEO and journalism standards. Derick is convinced Wayne Rooney is the true GOAT and won’t hear otherwise!
