Harry Maguire stripped of Manchester United captaincy

The Red Devils want £40m for the English defender

Harry Maguire has disclosed that Erik ten Hag relieved him of his leadership at Manchester United. Despite no longer being first-choice, the England defender kept the captaincy last year, and his transfer comes as a result of United's willingness to consider offers for the 30-year-old.

Maguire, who is committed to maintaining his spot with England, is willing to leave Manchester United, but it will be more difficult to find a buyer because of the wage increase he received when United qualified for the Champions League. He received a sizable pay boost in accordance with the remainder of the team.

“After discussions with the manager today he has informed me he is changing captain,” Maguire tweeted. “He outlined his reasons to me and whilst I’m personally extremely disappointed, I will continue to give my all every time I wear the shirt.

"So I wanted to say a massive thank you to the Manchester United fans for all their brilliant support whilst I’ve been wearing the armband."

“Since the day I took on the role, three and half years ago, it’s been a huge privilege to lead Manchester United and one of the proudest moments of my career to date. It’s one of the greatest honours in club football."

"I’ve done everything I possibly could to help United be successful – on and off the field. I will always be grateful to Ole Gunnar Solskjær for first giving me the responsibility and I wish whoever now takes it on every success and they will have my full support.”

Ten Hag intends to raise the funds available for recruitment by offloading Maguire and other unnecessary players. Mason Mount signed from Chelsea for an initial fee of £55 million, or nearly half of his $120 million outlay.

Internazionale custodian André Onana, who is scheduled to be in Manchester once the final verification on the conditions of payment has been finished, is about to finalise an initial €50 million (£42.9 million) transfer to United. Over the past few days, Ten Hag has spoken with Onana to ensure that the agreement will go through.

Rasmus Hjlund of Atalanta is a forward the boss is also interested in. Ten Hag might possibly try to acquire another centre-half if Maguire leaves.

United have also released a statement after stripping Maguire of captaincy

The statement read as: “Everyone at Manchester United thanks Harry Maguire for his contribution as captain over the past three and a half years. The manager will announce the new captain in due course, after briefing the players”.