Man Utd legend Ferdinand hits out at Keane for ‘crazy’ Fernandes call: ‘Why bring another saga to the table?’
Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has called out Roy Keane for his “crazy” suggestion that Erik ten Hag should strip Bruno Fernandes of the captaincy.
The Red Devils’ 3-0 loss to arch-rivals Manchester City over the weekend was their fifth defeat out of ten Premier League matches this term with Erik ten Hag coming under pressure to turn it around.
Man Utd made their worst start to a new season since 1986 before they managed to win three consecutive matches – but the manner of their loss to Man City has once again deflated the fanbase.
Roy Keane was frustrated by another poor performance from Ten Hag’s men and picked out a change of captaincy as an option to potentially alter their trajectory.
Fernandes replaced Harry Maguire as captain over the summer but Keane has always had doubts about the Man Utd midfielder’s attitude and occasional petulance.
Keane said on Sky Sports: “The first thing I’d do is change the captain. Bruno Fernandes is not captain material.
“He’s moaning all the time. He’s the complete opposite to what a captain should be for me.”
But former Man Utd team-mate Ferdinand thinks Keane’s suggestion is “crazy” and will only cause another unwanted “saga” at Old Trafford.
Ferdinand said on his Vibe with Five YouTube channel: “Who else is there? If there was somebody jumping off the page that you go, ‘Okay yeah he should actually go and get it,’ I would say, ‘Okay you can consider that,’ but throwing out comments like that…
“Saying that is crazy. Because one of Erik ten Hag’s biggest problems has been the amount of sagas there’s been outside of the pitch.
“We’ve had the [Mason] Greenwood situation, you’ve had [Jadon] Sancho, you’ve had Antony, now you want to create another one by taking the captaincy? Look at how that affected the team when Maguire went out of the team and he took the armband off him.
“These are big decisions. The armband at a football club is a massive decision that makes news for all the wrong reasons and you want to bring another saga to the table? I don’t think it’s the right call at all.
“The lens on the club at the moment is so magnified, it’s so laser-focused on the football club for the wrong reasons. Why bring another saga to the table? I don’t think it helps the situation right now.”
