Harry Maguire was asked to name his dream six-a-side team from players who have worn the captain’s armband for Manchester United . Maguire was appointed captain following Ashley Young’s departure to Inter Milan in January after displaying the leadership qualities that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was looking for following his summer switch from Leicester. During an appearance on the United podcast with former skipper Bryan Robson, Maguire was tasked with selecting a dream six-a-side team from former club captains. Unfortunately for Maguire, Robson won the toss meaning he had the first-choice of players. Robson opted for Peter Schmeichel in goal leaving Maguire to select from Edwin van der Sar and David de Gea, with the defender opting for the latter.
Maguire said: “I’ll go with David De Gea. After playing with him this year, I’ve realised how good of a ‘keeper he is. Having watched him over the last few years, for me he’s been the best goalkeeper in the Premier League for the last 10 years. To play under him this year has been great. I’d be more than happy to have him in goal.”
Robson selected Jaap Stam leaving Maguire to pick Rio Ferdinand, a player he admitted he idolised when growing up.
Maguire said: “Jaap Stam was going to be in my team, I’ve watched him a few of the charity games but I’ll go with Rio Ferdinand. He’s someone I looked up too and modelled my game on in terms of the way he brought the ball out of defence and started attacks off. He changed a lot of people’s perception of a central defender.”
Moving up the field, Robson selected Cristiano Ronaldo, Paul Pogba and Roy Keane whereas Maguire picked Robson, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes. Maguire finished off his team with current United striker Marcus Rashford who he believes will captain the club in the future.
The former Leicester City man said: “I’ve always spoken so highly of Marcus when I was with him at England. I can’t speak highly enough of him. I think he’s going to go on to have an exceptional career. I think he’s going to go on to – I don’t want to put too much pressure on him – be a wonderful player for Manchester United, as he is now. Yeah, definitely [he could become club captain]. I think as a club, you should have a captain and rely on him, but you need to spread the onus of the leadership in the group. On the pitch, like I said, he’s amazed me. He’s the most talented player I’ve ever played with.”
