Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford BOTH turned down the chance to captain Manchester United during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reign as manager.
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The Norwegian gave his first detailed interview since his sacking two years ago earlier this week in which he revealed the extent of the problems inside the United dressing room that have unearthed a succession of managers.
Solskjaer criticised the attitudes of a number of players and admitted he was left ‘very, very disappointed’ by two high-profile figures to rejected the chance to skipper his side.
According to The Sun, Pogba said no to his manager because he was already making plans to leave the club once his contract expired, while Rashford, now 25, felt he wasn’t ready to accept the responsibility of leading a side that was in a state of flux.
Solskjaer, who was sacked following a harrowing 4-1 defeat at Watford, eventually settled on Harry Maguire who suffered the ignominy of being stripped of the captaincy this summer and replaced by Bruno Fernandes.
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The Portugal international led from the front, meanwhile, on Saturday night as United ended a run of four successive defeats with a much needed win over Burnley at Turf Moor.
Fernandes scored the only goal of an even encounter with a sensational volley on the stroke of half-time and afterwards praised the spirit of the players who contributed to a confidence boosting victory.
Speaking to TNT Sports shortly after the final whistle, the Portuguese playmaker said: ‘We knew the momentum was tough but that we could come back from this.
‘The team has great players and a great spirit. We’ve been a little bit unlucky but the performances haven’t been the best. Today we showed great spirit.”
‘With the performance we sacrificed a lot because Burnley played great football and have great qualities. I think the points they have don’t show the quality they have because it’s really tough to play against them.
‘So it’s not just an easy win here – we’re really happy for the points and hopefully it will give us strength for the rest.’
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