Ex-Man Utd ace Paul Ince’s choices of club’s future leaders is deeply worrying
This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Speaking to talkSPORT, Paul Ince has name-checked Axel Tuanzebe and Harry Maguire as two potential leaders at Manchester United.
What did he say?
The Red Devils are currently in the midst of a major rebuild, and let several high-profile players go in the summer transfer window, including the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named much-maligned figure Ashley Young as club captain earlier in the summer, and Ince has lambasted the lack of leadership at Old Trafford.
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He said: “They look out of all sorts, they look devoid of confidence and you’re not seeing any leadership and characters. Look, you’re not going to get the teams like United had under Fergie, those days are gone. They’re gone.
“You’re not going to get your Keanes, your Robsons, your Giggses and your Scholeses – you’re not going to get that anymore. What you’ve got to get is quality into the team and find one or two leaders, likes Harry Maguire and Axel Tuanzebe, who I like. You’ve got to try and grow these leaders.
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“When we were there and the likes of Beckham, Scholes and Giggs were coming in, we taught them what they needed to be to be a Man United player, in the same way Bryan Robson and Steve Bruce taught me – these kids haven’t got that!”
Worrying
Ince’s sentiment of the club trying to “grow” their own leaders is somewhat understandable, but his two choices of Maguire and Tuanzebe are certainly eye-brow raising. The former only joined Solskjaer’s side in the summer for a fee in the region of £80m, and is barely months into his United career. The latter meanwhile, is still just 21-years-old, and spent the previous campaign on loan at Championship side Aston Villa.
For Ince to suggest those two are the individuals United may be looking to in the near future as leaders of the side, is quite puzzling. As the former Red Devils ace says himself, when he was coming through, he had Robson and Bruce to teach him the ropes. But with his two picks for now, he’s asking a duo who are still in the early stages of playing for the club to act as the sources of inspiration for their teammates.
If anything, Ince’s comments really does shine a light on just how far the Manchester side have fallen.