Harry Maguire responds to Cristiano Ronaldo rift reports over Manchester United captaincy

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire has rubbished claims of a dressing room battle between himself and Cristiano Ronaldo over the club captaincy.

Reports in the national media have claimed Maguire and Ronaldo are embroiled in a power struggle over the captaincy at Old Trafford.

However, Maguire, following in the footsteps of Marcus Rashford, who, earlier this week, rubbished claims about unrest in the camp, has denied the speculation, insisting there are no issues between himself and Ronaldo.

Posting on Twitter, Maguire said: "I've seen a lot of reports about this club that aren't true and this is another. Not going to start posting about everything that is written but I need to make this one clear.

"We're United and focused on Sunday. Enjoy your day, everyone."

The centre-back, who has been heavily criticised by a growing number of United supporters in recent weeks, was handed the armband by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in January 2020, just months after joining the club in a big-money deal from Leicester City.

Bruno Fernandes and Ronaldo each took the captaincy during Maguire's injury layoff earlier in 2022, which has prompted calls from sections of the United support for defender to be permanently stripped of the armband.

However, United interim boss Rangnick, following last Saturday's 1-1 stalemate with Southampton at Old Trafford, insisted there was no reason for the England international to have the captaincy taken away from him.

Rangnick said: "I think when he came back after his injury he did extremely well. He had a very good performance, a very good game against West Ham.

"In the past two games, yes he had some weaker moments, against Southampton and when we conceded the goal at Burnley, but he's our captain