Paul Parker believes Bruno Fernandes “shouldn’t be the captain” of Manchester United when Harry Maguire does not play.
Fernandes joined the Red Devils from Sporting for around £58million in 2020.
The Portuguese playmaker has been excellent since joining, scoring a remarkable 61 goals and providing 53 assists in nearly three-and-a-half seasons at Old Trafford.
The 28-year-old wore the armband several times last season and has essentially been promoted to club captain with Erik ten Hag often leaving Maguire out of his starting XI.
Many have questioned whether or not Fernandes is captain material due to his body language and constant moaning on the pitch.
During a Premier League match between United and Aston Villa on April 30, Jadon Sancho told Fernandes to “stop moaning”, with a clip of the incident going viral on social media.
Sancho probably said what a lot of his teammates were thinking, but it was not the best look, really.
The club’s former defender Parker has said this sort of thing is pretty normal in football.
He adds that Fernandes “never stops moaning” and has brutally suggested Ten Hag should strip the vice-captaincy from him.
“Well, the situation about Jadon Sancho telling Bruno Fernandes to stop moaning blew up because of social media,” Parker told MyBettingSites.
“It happens a lot in football, and I have definitely said it to even Roy Keane, Paul Ince and Peter Schmeichel when I played.
“It’s one of the things that you say on a football pitch and when you’re in the dressing room after the match, you will laugh about it 99 times out of a 100.
“I think that everyone knows that Fernandes moans a lot. He never stops moaning and he must get on people’s nerves. He must do, it’s impossible for him not to.
“Sancho might be feeling it more than other players because Bruno Fernandes is getting at him all the time. But Sancho needs to treat him like a club captain, however, he shouldn’t be the captain but that’s how it is now.”
Parker added that he believes Sancho should have dealt with the situation differently.
He explained: “So, next time Sancho is going to deal with Fernandes, it might be a better solution to pull him aside, even during a corner kick, put his arm around him and say it.
“Football has changed now and to do it infront of everyone is probably not the best decision.
“Because the mentality of the players has changed, and the majority of the players might feel embarrassed when a teammate says something like that in front of everyone. The majority would crumble if they heard a comment like that.
“When I played, we were a lot stronger mentally because the game really mattered to us.
“Because of that, Bruno Fernandes might think before getting at Sancho and considering how Sancho’s time has been at Man United, Fernandes should know that he needs help and not a teammate moaning and getting on his nerves.”
