Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford ‘were the two players to turn down the Man United captaincy under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’ after the Norwegian lifted the lid on his doomed Old Trafford reign earlier this week

• Click here to watch the IAKO Battle of Old Trafford YouTube Special from the Mail Sport Studios 
• Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford reportedly rejected being Man United captain
• Ole Gunnar Solskjaer lifted the lid on his doomed reign at Old Trafford this week

A new claim suggests that Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford are the players to turn down the opportunity to be Manchester United captain under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

This week, the Norwegian revealed to The Athletic how his spell as club manager at Old Trafford fell apart, with his side losing 38 matches and drawing 33 more in his 149-game stint. 

He said that some of the club’s top stars had rejected the opportunity of captaincy, but did not name those who chose not to take up the position of responsibility.

But The Sun report quotes from an unnamed source who outed Pogba and Rashford as the stars who rejected the opportunity.

The source said: ‘Paul Pogba was offered it but said he wanted to leave the club so turned it down.

Paul Pogba has been named as one of the players to turn down the Man United captaincy

Marcus Rashford also refused the armband during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time in charge

‘Rashford was also asked to take the captaincy but he didn’t think he was ready for it.’ 

Pogba was at Man United from 2016 to 2022, before rejoining Juventus at the expiry of his contract. Rashford remains at the club where he has been since his youth career, but is not captain, with Bruno Fernandes taking that role now.  

In his interview this week, Solskjaer said he was ‘very disappointed when a couple turned down the chance to be captain’. 

He also hit out at others who refused to train or play in Manchester United matches in a bid to force his way out of the club. 

Antonio Valencia was skipper when Solskjaer took up the caretaker manager role at Old Trafford in December 2018, before being installed as Manchester United’s permanent manager three months later.

When the Ecuadorian left, the armband went to Ashley Young for six months, before his exit to Inter Milan.

At that point, Harry Maguire was named as club captain, an honour he maintained officially until this season when Fernandes took over.  

Antonio Valencia was skipper when Solskjaer became caretaker manager in December 2018 

Bruno Fernandes officially took over the Man United captaincy at the start of this season

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