Rio Ferdinand has hit back at Roy Keane's comments on Manchester United on Sky Sports after the dismal 3-0 defeat to rivals, branding his suggestion "crazy".
United were beaten in Sunday's derby at Old Trafford courtesy of a brace from Erling Haaland and a strike from Phil Foden.
No-one really came out of the game well for United after a poor display but captain Bruno Fernandes came in for criticism.
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He was booked late on for dissent and his constant arm-flailing led to calls from Keane for him to be stripped of the captaincy - having only been appointed the permanent skipper in the summer.
Speaking on Sky Sports, he 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.”
Harry Maguire had the armband taken off him prior to the start of the 2023/24 season after Erik ten Hag made the decision.
Ferdinand, however, is not supportive of Keane's thinking.
With the endless amount of sagas going on at United in recent times, he believes creating another episode is entirely unnecessary and doesn't think there is anyone else worthy of being captain.
On his FIVE podcast, Ferdinand commented: “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.
"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."
Micah Richards also called out Fernandes, accusing the Portugal international of "playing for himself" and "trying to get the crowd on side" whenever his team are losing and not playing well.
On the experiment as captain, the ex City and England defended added "it is not quite working out".
United return to action on Wednesday, hosting Newcastle United in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Topics: Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United, Roy Keane
Josh Lawless