Harry Maguire showed his true colours after Man Utd boss stripped him of captaincy

 Harry Maguire admits he was gutted to lose the Manchester United captaincy - but was thrilled Bruno Fernandes was the one given the armband.

In January 2020, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer named Maguire Red Devils captain, a matter of months after his £80million move from Leicester City. His turbulent reign as skipper, which saw him face enormous levels of criticism as United struggled under Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick, ended in 2023, when Erik ten Hag stripped him of the captaincy.

The ex-United boss handed the armband to Fernandes, who continues to wear it to this day. While Maguire admitted he was heartbroken to lose the honour, he wanted to do everything he could to help his Portuguese team-mate.

Speaking on 'Rio Ferdinand Presents', Maguire said: "When I was captain, Bruno gave me his full support. I leant on Bruno a lot to be honest.

"Whenever I had decisions to make, I had people around me like (David) De Gea, Bruno and Nemanja (Matic). I had good experienced pros there and I always leant on them. I built a good relationship with Bruno when I was captain.

"Obviously, Erik decided to change the captaincy because I was not playing in that first season. I really wanted it to go to Bruno if I’m being honest and I told Bruno the same. He came up to me and I spoke to him. I said, 'Look, congratulations.'"

When the legendary United defender pushed Maguire to offer an insight into the conversation between him and Ten Hag, the 64-cap England international said: "It was a sticky conversation. The season before, I just didn’t feel as important to the club as I did under Ole.

"I think if you're the captain, you need to feel important, you need to have the backing of the manager, you need to have the backing of all the team. If you don't it doesn't work.

"Bruno was Erik's guy. Bruno is a great leader. Like I said to Bruno, I said, 'If I have to give it away to anyone - and I didn't want to give it away to anyone - he'd be the man I would want to take this club forward.'

"He's a fantastic player, a great leader and, most importantly, he puts other people first. I think that's a big trait to have when you are a captain. He cares about others, he cares about improving others, he cares about helping others.

"There's a lot of players in this game who obviously play for themselves, rightly so it takes them far. But there's also a lot of players who care about the team and making other people better and making young lads come through, feel comfortable and Bruno is one of those."

Fernandes will be leading Ruben Amorim's new-look United out at Old Trafford on Saturday, when the Red Devils face Arsenal in their first match of the new Premier League campaign. Last season was shambolic for the Reds, who finished 15th and put in a lacklustre performance in their Europa League final defeat by Tottenham.

While Amorim has mainly focused on bolstering his frontline with the acquisitions of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, Maguire looks set to play an important role in the Portuguese boss's defence. He will be contending with Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Lisandro Martinez and Noussair Mazraoui for a place in Amorim's three-man backline.