Erik ten Hag reveals he is working with a leadership group at Manchester United

Erik ten Hag has clarified he is working with a leadership group at Manchester United rather than just leaning on captain Harry Maguire.

Ten Hag has retained Maguire as skipper but the £80million centre-back's place is in jeopardy, with the United manager giving serious consideration to dropping him against Liverpool.

Bruno Fernandes is the de facto vice-captain and Cristiano Ronaldo also wore the armband last season, while Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford are viewed as dressing room lieutenants.

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Maguire's status as captain does not have majority support in the United squad and there was a clamour from the fanbase for him to be stripped of the captaincy in the summer.

Fernandes could lead United out against Liverpool on Monday night if Maguire is dropped but the Portuguese has been particularly poor since he received an incongruous new contract in April.

"When the attitude is no good from the team, often the leaders are not there because they are the ones who give the example and go in front," Ten Hag said. "That is a point we have to work on.

"I work always with a group of leaders, not one in particular. I spoke with the leaders about this issue. It doesn't have to be senior players but we have a core group who have to be the example and take the responsibility."

When asked if he had seen leadership from the squad in training following the Brentford debacle, he replied: "This is also a process. We work with that, we started since a couple of weeks now and they have to grow."

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