Former Manchester United centre-back Wes Brown has backed Harry Maguire to retain the Manchester United captaincy under Erik ten Hag.

Harry Maguire had a rough season last term as Manchester United slumped to a sixth-place finish and there have been calls for the England international to be dropped as captain.

Speaking to the Express, Brown said: “The captaincy, to me, obviously it’s a big deal but you just get on with it.

“For instance, if he [Maguire] got it taken off him, he’ll be disappointed. Ultimately, he’ll want to show everybody he can do it.

“There were a lot of players who had a bad season last season. But as the captain, you will take a lot of stick and I think he understands that.”

He added: “I’ve said this before, I’ve watched many games where Maguire may have been at fault for the last part of the goal, but leading up to it there’s three or four mistakes when it shouldn’t have got to that position.

“Yes, Maguire will be disappointed in bits that he’s been involved in. And he’s the captain, he’s going to get pulled up on it.

“But that’s what I mean about consistency. We need to be better in all the areas but Harry is older, wiser, he’s got experience and he’ll want to show everybody he can do it and it’s as simple as that. Hopefully this happens this season.”

Brown insists players are bound to have underwhelming campaigns at some point.

“If you’re in this league for 15 seasons, you’re not going to have a great year every year unless you’re [Cristiano] Ronaldo or [Lionel] Messi,” he said.

“But, in general, it can happen. And there were quite a few below-pars last season and, ultimately, if that was me I’d hope I was the one being picked on.

“But I hope he comes back really fit and the challenge is there now. I’m pretty sure he knows that.”