Ben Guest
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that Paul Pogba is a candidate to wear the Manchester United captain’s armband this season, despite him wanting to leave the club.
The France international recently said that he is looking for ‘a new challenge somewhere else,’ with his controversial agent, Mino Raiola, adding that he was in the process of securing a move away.
However, Manchester United have remained adamant that they want to keep their prized asset, although it is privately thought they would be willing to cash in if they received an offer in excess of £150 million – far in excess of what anyone seems willing to pay.
With Antonio Valencia having departed this summer, the club are without a permanent captain, and following United’s 2-0 win over Perth Glory on Saturday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was asked about the candidates to take the armband.
“No, it hasn’t (been decided),” the Norwegian said at a press conference.
“So we’ve got quite a few possibilities there and when the season starts we’ll announce. Of course we’ll have a good assessment, see how pre-season goes, so there we go.
“But, as you saw, Ashley (Young) will wear it when he’s playing until we decide on someone, yeah.”
Asked if Pogba was a candidate, Solskjaer simply replied: “Yeah.”
Ashley Young wore the armband for the first half of the victory in Western Australia before Juan Mata took over in the second half when Solskjaer made 11 changes, including the introduction of the wantaway midfielder.
Pressed on why the 26-year-old is a candidate, Solskjaer refused to discuss it.
“Well, I don’t think that needs explaining. We’ll discuss that later on.”
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