How have Bruno Fernandes' predecessors as Man United captain fared?
Wayne Rooney won plenty of trophies and Antonio Valencia made history but Harry Maguire struggled… how have Man United’s captains in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era fared as Bruno Fernandes takes the armband?
- Bruno Fernandes has been confirmed as Man United captain for next season
- He replaces Harry Maguire, who has worn the armband since January 2020
- Since Sir Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney has been the most successful skipper
Bruno Fernandes has been confirmed as the new Manchester United captain, becoming the sixth man to wear the armband for the club since the end of Sir Alex Ferguson’s time in charge at Old Trafford.
Fernandes takes over from Harry Maguire, who has had the captaincy stripped from him by Erik ten Hag, amid questions about the defender’s ongoing future at Man United.
Since Nemanja Vidic left the club in 2014, there has been history with United’s first captain from outside of Europe, and a number of other leaders who have not achieved the same levels of success as previous Premier League Red Devils captains.
With Fernandes now stepping up to try and guide Man United for the foreseeable future, it’s time to look back on those select few who have been permanent captains of Man United over the past decade.
It’s the story of the basis which the Portuguese talisman will have to work upon, and hopefully guide the Red Devils back to their first Premier League title since 2012-13.
Nemanja Vidic left Man United in 2014, with Wayne Rooney taking over the club’s armband
Bruno Fernandes will now be the sixth man to take charge since Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure
Wayne Rooney (2014-2017)
Nemanja Vidic was the last Manchester United captain to win the Premier League over a decade ago, in 2013. When he vacated the club a year later to join Inter Milan, there was no one else better suited for the job than legend Wayne Rooney.
Rooney had already written his name into the club’s history, having been at the club since 2004.
As Manchester United’s all-time record goalscorer, he got 253 strikes to his credit, winning five Premier League titles – but they were all before he took over the armband under the reign of Louis van Gaal to crown his decade as a player there.
While boss of the armband, the club did win the FA Cup in 2016. The following season, he won the League Cup and Europa League double under Jose Mourinho, who kept faith with Rooney as his skipper.
Rooney’s final Manchester United appearance was coming off the bench in that Europa League final, before rejoining his boyhood club Everton.
Rooney was club captain for three years, guiding the Red Devils to three pieces of silverware
Michael Carrick (2017-2018)
As Rooney departed, another Englishman was selected for the captaincy. Michael Carrick had joined Manchester United in 2006, and after over a decade of service at Old Trafford, he was chosen for the role in the summer of 2017.
However, his stint with the armband was brief. In November of that year, he was treated for an irregular heart rhythm after suffering dizziness during a match and in training.
While the complex procedure was successful, and he returned to the side, he chose to retire from the professional game at the end of the season to take up a coaching role at Man United. He made his 464th and final club appearance on the final day.
Michael Carrick was only captain for a season as health problems caused him to retire
Antonio Valencia (2018-2019)
When Carrick retired, Jose Mourinho announced that the captaincy would be handed to Antonio Valencia, creating history in the process. The Ecuadorian right-back was the first permanent Manchester United captain not from Europe.
However, an attempt to create a new chain of history was met with a similar problem – injury. Valencia made just nine appearances that season.
Valencia, who had served Man United since 2009, was the man with the armband for the Europa League final in 2017 until Rooney’s late introduction to the match. But the club won no silverware during his one season as the full-time skipper.
He left United in 2019 after 339 games for the club, a record for a South American player. He returned to his native Ecuador, where he joined LDU Quito, and also played for Mexican side Queretaro before hanging his boots up for good in 2021.
Ecuador’s Antonio Valencia was Manchester United’s first captain from outside of Europe
Ashley Young (2019-2020)
The merry-go-round of the Manchester United captaincy went round again, and this time it stopped on Ashley Young.
He had been a player for the Red Devils since 2011, and was given the post for the first time in April 2017 during a win over Chelsea. So when two years later he was appointed as the full-time captain, it was perhaps no surprise.
Despite this, his tenure did not last long – he followed Vidic’s lead in moving to Inter Milan in January 2020, having scored the final goal of his Man United career in the Europa League the preceding month.
Ashley Young held the armband for just half a season before his move to Inter Milan in 2020
Harry Maguire (2020-2023)
Maguire was not a long-standing Man United player when he was chosen by Ole Gunnar Solksjaer to captain the side – it came just six months after his £80m move from Leicester City.
In his first season, he was the first outfield layer to play every minute of Manchester United’s Premier League campaign since 1995.
However, the defender was often scapegoated by fans, as the club languished behind Manchester City in every competition, and the club underwent a shift in manager.
When Solskjaer left, Maguire was there for the caretaker spell of Michael Carrick and the interim reign of Ralf Rangnick, but the real problems started with the arrival of Erik ten Hag in the summer of 2022.
Increased competition meant that the Sheffield-born centre-back struggled to keep his place in the side, and he was benched for the EFL Cup final in 2023. He came on in the 88th minute as they beat Newcastle United, which ended the club’s barren run of trophies, but it was the only piece of silverware the club picked up.
Maguire did not feature in the FA Cup final in June, as they lost to Man City, and the defender was told by ten Hag that he would no longer be captain days before Bruno Fernandes was confirmed in the post on a permanent basis.
Harry Maguire was at the club for just six months before he was handed the captain’s armband
Fernandes became Man United’s de facto captain last season while Maguire was benched
Bruno Fernandes (2023-?)
Bruno Fernandes became Man United’s de facto captain last season, with Maguire on the sidelines for most of the season.
The Portuguese talisman made 37 Premier League starts in 2022-23 – Maguire just nine – and was pivotal to the Red Devils’ qualification for the Champions League.
He’s not the first player to have some time with the armband before taking it on a permanent basis – but will the club’s first Portuguese captain be able to buck the recent trend of club leaders? Only time will tell…
Manchester United’s competitive season begins against Wolves on August 14 – and then we’ll be able to tell if Fernandes will be a long-term master of the armband, or another one-season wonder.
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