Roy Keane comments on Bruno Fernandes have earned the ire of Rio Ferdinand (Photo: Getty / YouTube)
Rio Ferdinand says it would be ‘crazy’ to strip Bruno Fernandes of the Manchester United captaincy.
Following United’s 3-0 Manchester derby defeat on Sunday, virtually every single Red Devils player and manager Erik ten Hag came under fire.
However, one particularly bit of criticism caught the eye more than most, with former United skipper Roy Keane urging Ten Hag to take the armband off Fernandes.
Speaking on Sky Sports, the former midfielder said: ‘The first thing I’d do is change the captain. Bruno Fernandes is not captain material.
‘He’s moaning all the time. He’s the complete opposite to what a captain should be for me.’
The attacking midfielder was officially named club captain during the summer after Harry Maguire was stripped of the role, a decision that heavily divided pundits at the time.
Months later, that discourse is still going on, with Ferdinand disagreeing with his former teammate’s comments, arguing that there are no better candidates for the captaincy and that it could add fuel to the off-pitch issues fire at Old Trafford.
The decision to make Fernandes Man Utd captain continues to split opinion (Photo: Getty)
Speaking on the FIVE podcast, the United legend said: ‘Who else is there? If there was somebody jumping off the page that you go, “Okay yeah he should actually go and get it,” I would say, “Okay you can consider that,’ but throwing out comments like that…
‘Saying that is crazy. Because one of Erik ten Hag’s biggest problems has been the amount of sagas there’s been outside of the pitch.
‘We’ve had the [Mason] Greenwood situation, you’ve had [Jadon] Sancho, you’ve had Antony, now you want to create another one by taking the captaincy? Look at how that affected the team when Maguire went out of the team and he took the armband off him.
More: Trending
‘These are big decisions. The armband at a football club is a massive decision that makes news for all the wrong reasons and you want to bring another saga to the table? I don’t think it’s the right call at all.
‘The lens on the club at the moment is so magnified, it’s so laser-focused on the football club for the wrong reasons. Why bring another saga to the table? I don’t think it helps the situation right now.’
Having now lost seven of their 14 games of the season, United desperately need to get things together and have the first opportunity to do so when they host Newcastle in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night.
MORE : ‘Like watching Thierry Henry!’ – Harry Redknapp hails ‘superb’ Arsenal star Eddie Nketiah
For more stories like this, check our sport page.
Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
‘You want to bring another saga to the table?’
