It's been a torrid season for pretty much at everyone at Manchester United - but particularly for Harry Maguire.
The 29-year-old has been lambasted more than most this year, but not without good reason; rather than leading by example, the £80million man has been a consistent calamity at the back. And unfortunately, his woes continued into the international break, when the England star was inexplicably booed by his own fans at Wembley prior to Tuesday night's 3-0 win Ivory Coast.
Maguire did - at least - manage to block out the hate and put in one of his best performances of the season for either club or country - but he still looks a shell of the player that played a starring role for England in their march to the Euro 2020 final.
The former Leicester man was also a colossus at the back for United last year as they finished in second spot; albeit a country mile behind their rivals Manchester City. His drop-off in form has been alarming - but both Ralf Rangnick and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have resisted calls to shelve their captain.
As well as Maguire's woeful form, the Mirror also exclusively revealed that the strapping centre-half had fallen out with Cristiano Ronaldo after the Portuguese veteran stepped up to mentor younger members of the squad after making his emotional return to Old Trafford last summer.
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As a result of that, some have claimed that Ronaldo would be a better option to wear the armband than Maguire - but not for the first time in his Manchester United tenure, Ronaldo has been snubbed by his boss. And the reason that Sir Alex Ferguson decided against handing Ronaldo the club captaincy could perhaps shine some light on why Rangnick has stuck by Maguire this term.
Gary Neville previously revealed that Ferguson refused to take the captaincy away from him after he was dogged by injuries in the twilight of his career, with Ronaldo again mooted for the role. He told Sky Sports: "I got injured a year after taking the captaincy and that became really difficult for me.
"It felt as though I wasn’t contributing like a captain should be for my last four years. I actually went to see Sir Alex in pre-season about the third year I was captain."
"We had an amazing team: Ronaldo, Rooney, [Carlos] Tevez, [Ryan] Giggs, [Paul] Scholes, [Michael] Carrick, [Rio] Ferdinand, [Nemanja] Vidic, [Patrice] Evra, [Edwin] van der Sar… there were some great personalities and players in that group.
"I went over to Sir Alex walking onto the training pitch and said, 'I don’t feel worthy of keeping the captaincy anymore. This team is to a level I can’t compete at'. He said, 'You’ll keep that f-ing armband, son.' The reason he gave me: 'You and Giggs will rotate it. If I give it to Ronaldo, Rooney will kick off. If I give it to Rooney, Ronaldo will kick off. If I give it to Vidic, Ferdinand won’t be happy'.
"So literally I think me and Giggsy kept it for three or four years beyond that just purely because of the fact the camaraderie in the dressing room. We were the policemen if you like, the older statesmen.
"Sir Alex wanted to make sure the team came first. Even though I felt unworthy as a captain at that stage."
Ferguson's decision to keep the armband on Neville was a move made for the greater good - something that Rangnick is seemingly trying to replicate.
In truth, few people would benefit from changing the club captaincy mid-season; least of all Maguire. United have been plagued by more than enough issues this year - the last thing they need right now is any more upheaval.
While United still have a faint chance to secure Champions League football this term, rallying around Maguire makes sense in the short-term - but deciding whether or not he stays in the role for good will be the first big call awaiting Manchester United's new permanent manager in the summer.
