Rio Ferdinand has urged Harry Maguire to be a more demanding voice in the Manchester United dressing room.
United's leadership has come under intense scrutiny this week after club legend Roy Keane slammed the first-team squad after their weekend defeat by Arsenal and questioned whether or not there are any natural leaders at the club.
Club captain Maguire continues to divide opinion since his arrival from Leicester last year and Ferdinand admitted he'd like to see more from the England international.
Ferdinand spoke about his own time at Old Trafford and urged Maguire to embrace his role as captain by demanding more from his teammates.
“We’re lacking confidence in certain areas, we gain a bit of confidence in midweek (after beating RB Leipzig 5-0) but do they get too confident?” the United great said on his FIVE YouTube channel.
“I saw Maguire saying they were patting each other on the back too much. Get a hold of that team - he’s the captain. I hope he’s getting in there and telling people ‘listen, we aren’t the finished article, we’ve got loads to do, pull your socks up’.
“I don’t know if that’s going on. The captain of Man United. There’s always been leaders in that dressing room pulling people aside to make sure they stay on their game.
“I remember chatting to Nani, it was two or three words: ‘assists and goals’ or ‘shoot on sight.’ Boom, that’s it. It doesn’t need essays. Sometimes it is short and sharp.
“Are these conversations going on? It isn’t just for the management to deal with that, sometimes the players need to stand up and put it on people.”
