United's latest wave of "captainship battles" ended with interim manager Lonnick announcing that Harry Maguire would keep the captain's armband until the end of the season. But as long as the captain is still Maguire, the controversy will recur in the future, not because of the state problem, the root cause is that he lacks the real captain's temperament.
Harry Maguire, a transfer fee of up to £80 million, has been questioned at Manchester United this season, and Lonnick has been asked many times whether he intends to change the captain, although he has always supported the England international, but in the eyes of most Red Devils fans, as the world's most expensive centre-back, Maguire not only lacks leadership temperament, but also his defensive level does not meet the standards he deserves.
One Manchester United fan summed up the reasons metaphorically: "If we hadn't experienced great wealth, we might have been willing to suffer now." In other words, Maguire has a significant gap with the past Manchester United's center-back captain, or the standard king defender.
In the history of Manchester United, before Maguire, there were 3 centre-backs as club captains, and 2 were also king-level centre-backs at that time. Leo Ferdinand meets two conditions at the same time, that is, there are 4 such players: Steve Bruce, Stam, Ferdinand and Vidic.
Bruce has never been selected for England, but he was an important contributor to Manchester United's era of Premier League empire. In the first year of the league's founding year, in the 1992/93 season, due to the injury of "Fantastic Captain" Brian Robson, Bruce wore the captain's armband most of the time, and he did not disappoint The Lord and the fans. Especially in the key battle with Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester United fell behind 0-1, and Bruce, who suffered a head injury, completed the second goal with an injury and led the team to reverse. As he finished his kill, Ferguson rushed into the stadium on his knees in celebration, ending a dark era of 26 years without a top-flight title. Bruce's younger brothers at the time included: Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Schmeichel...
Stam moved to Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven in 1998 for £10.6 million, setting a record for the highest transfer fee for a centre-back at the time. His experience at Manchester United goes without saying, it can be summed up in just a few key words. The 1999 Triple Crown, The Regrets of Premature Cleaning, and Stitches on the Pitch illustrate Stam's achievements, status and courage. Although like Maguire, he has the weakness of turning too slowly, But Stam's other skills make him one of the world's best centre-backs.
After the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan, Manchester United signed Ferdinand from Leeds United for a transfer fee of 30 million pounds, setting a new record for the value of defenders. The newcomer Ferdinand was not comfortable, and was even mocked by Solskjaer: "This is the 30 million center-back?" But then Ferdinand gradually gained a foothold, playing for the Red Devils for more than 10 years, notably winning the Premier League and Champions League doubles in 2008, and at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, Ferdinand as captain of the field and veteran Giggs lifted the Big Ears Cup to reach the peak of his career.
Ferdinand's centre-back partner in the Manchester United backline is Vidic, who only spent £7.5 million on the club, and the elegance of the English centre-back, combined with the bravery of the Serbian iron guard, complement each other to become the best centre-back combination in the history of Manchester United.
Vidic's excellent defensive skills, combined with a spirit of desperation, make opponents insurmountable. The footage of The Vivians fighting for the Red Devils is classic, and many fans have overlooked that before Phil Jones, Vidic was the first Manchester United centre-back who dared to block the ball under the opponent's feet with his head.
Compared with these United predecessors, Maguire is also a good player, but measured by the high standards of the past, his technical and tactical ability and mental attributes are far from the level that people expect a £80 million player to show. Coupled with Manchester United's poor record, fans naturally cannot be satisfied with Maguire.