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Ashley Young Will Be Manchester United’s New Club Captain This Season
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Ashley Young will become club captain ahead of the 2019/20 campaign.
The 34-year-old full back, who struggled for the majority of last season, will claim the armband after Manchester United decided against renewing Antonio Valencia's contract.
Speaking after United's 5-4 penalty shoot-out win against AC Milan on Friday afternoon, Solskjaer said Young will take the captaincy role when he is named in the starting XI.
"David (De Gea) is obviously in contention, [but] Ash, when he's on the pitch, will carry the armband. When Ash starts, he'll be carrying the armband," he said in the post-match press conference.
Solskjaer was then asked to clarify if Young was taking over the role as club captain, to which he replied: "You can probably call it that."
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirms Ashley Young will be @ManUtd captain this season "when he's on the pitch"
- Steve Bates (@sbates_people) August 3, 2019
Of course, Young is not guaranteed a place in the starting XI next season, so Solskjaer is looking to appoint a vice-captain for when he isn't on the pitch.
The Times claimed back in May that Paul Pogba was expected to be offered the 'captaincy role' at Old Trafford as part of plan to keep him on board, while David De Gea and Chris Smalling were also candidates.
But many are unconvinced at the appointment of Young as club captain.
Ole has just confirmed that Ashley Young will be captain for the 2019/2020 season. That's a huge problem. Your captain has to play week in week out, and I'm assuming he won't do so. Just shows you that we give the armband to veterans, not people with actual captain material.
- Daniel (@UtdDxn) August 3, 2019
Ashley Young named as the new #MUFC club captain.
- (@Josh_Samuels_) August 3, 2019
Honestly, why?
As long as AWB and Shaw stay fit, he's getting nowhere near the starting XI, and when he inevitably leaves next summer, he'll have been our third single-season captain in a row.
I'd have given it to Maguire.
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Ole Gunnar Solskjær confirms that Ashley Young will be club captain this season, when he's on the pitch.
- :goat::tm: (@TheFergusonWay) August 3, 2019
FFS, at least he won't be starting though.
If this is true its shocking. The captain should be starting every game, the leader, the managers right hand man. That doesnt happen from the bench
- Els (@els777) August 3, 2019
The criticism of Young was especially heavy after defeat to Barcelona at Old Trafford back in April.
Not only did he lose possession a total of 32 times throughout the Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona, but no player on the pitch lost possession more.
From his defensive work to his influence in the final third, the experienced winger turned full-back was all over the place, at times.
The 33-year-old's inability to find a man from a simple cross was another frustrating part to his game. He attempted a total of 11 crosses but failed to find his teammates on a single occasion.
In fact, his passing accuracy of 73.3% was unsurprisingly the lowest on the pitch.
Ashley Young vs Barcelona last night was disgraceful:
- Devils of United :beginner: (@DevilsOfUnited) April 11, 2019
Attempted 11 crosses and none of them found a United shirt
73.3% pass accuracy - lowest on team
0 dribbles completed
0 crosses completed
0 aerials duel won
Manchester United's captain. pic.twitter.com/v8ncDaHCbi
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Topics: Football News, Captain, Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Ashley Young