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."

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.

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.

Image: PA

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.

Thoughts on the decision to appoint Ashley Young as Manchester United club captain?

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Topics: Football News, Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Ashley Young

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

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