'Nonsense' - Ralf Rangnick quashes Manchester United captaincy change talk

Ralf Rangnick has confirmed Harry Maguire will continue to captain Manchester United for the rest of the season.

The Red Devils are in the midst of a disappointing season, with a top-four finish the best they can hope for in the Premier League and the Champions League their last remaining route to ending their relative trophy drought.

Maguire has been below par of late and reports on Friday suggested he could be removed from the role as captain, with Cristiano Ronaldo instead donning the armband for the remainder of the campaign.

The United defender denied that on social media and interim manager Rangnick backed his skipper ahead of Sunday's crunch clash with rivals Leeds.

"Well, to start with I must say that this is absolutely nonsense," the German said.

"I have never spoken with any player about a possible change of captaincy and Harry's fully aware of that and so is Cristiano and all the other players.

"This has never been an issue for me. It's me who decides who is the captain and therefore there's no reason for me to speak about that with any other person.

"Harry is our captain and he will stay our captain until the end of the season and there is nothing else to add onto that."

Marcus Rashford dismissed separate talk of a dressing room divide earlier in the week and Rangnick has been unruffled by such reports as United prepare for Leeds and Wednesday's Champions League clash at Atletico Madrid.

"I'm not frustrated at all because I know that it's not the truth," he said.

"I told you already about Harry being the captain. This is not an issue at all and it's never been an issue for us and for myself as the manager.

"All the other things, to be honest, I don't listen to that noise that much because my full focus is on preparing