Man Utd captain goes public on Ronaldo rift rumors

Manchester United skipper Harry Maguire took to Twitter to try and defuse rumors of a power struggle between him and star teammate Cristiano Ronaldo over the Premier League giants' captaincy.

"I’ve seen a lot of reports about this club that aren’t true and this is another," said the England center back when quote-tweeting a Mirror Football journalist who shared a report.

"Not going to start posting about everything that is written but I needed to make this one clear. We’re united and focused on Sunday.

"Enjoy your day everyone," he advised his near 2 million followers, and anyone else that might have come across the address online.

Maguire was made the Red Devils' captain in January 2020, less than six months after joining the northwest English outfit from Leicester City in an £85 million ($115 million) transfer.

Ronaldo rejoined the club for a second time in his storied career when moving from Juventus on deadline day in the last summer transfer window, but a report from The Mirror claimed that there is now friction in the pair's relationship.

According to the British paper, Maguire does not want to give up the captain's armband for the rest of the current campaign amid poor form, as United battle for Champions League qualification. 

Maguire allegedly believes that he could lose the role on a full-time basis if handing over leadership responsibilities, and interim boss Ralf Rangnick asking Ronaldo to mentor his younger teammates has reportedly led to further tensions with Maguire. 

Ronaldo's huge influence in the dressing room, and in particular with the young players, is said to have left Maguire feeling increasingly undermined.

Furthermore, Ronaldo has allegedly "positioned himself as the one setting the example for younger players and [on] the need for one figure – himself – to get everyone pulling in the same direction," which supposedly makes Maguire feel marginalized authoritatively speaking and has led the defender to the conclusion that some of his other teammates are losing respect for him.

Due to this, there is apparently a "growing belief" among those in the Old Trafford locker room that it is only a matter of time until Ronaldo replaces Maguire at the helm.

Rangnick asking Ronaldo to mentor young players such as Maguire's England teammates Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford plus Scott McTominay has been viewed as a challenge to Maguire's status with some of the rookies reportedly feeling conflicted as to whether they should be loyal to Maguire or follow Ronaldo's lead. 

READ MORE: Khabib vows to ‘talk’ with Ronaldo to ensure Old Trafford stay (VIDEO)

Though Ronaldo has backed Maguire in the past and urged others to get behind him, a source for The Mirror noted that vocal support has waned in recent weeks.

"Originally, Ronaldo was asking players to back Harry," said the source. "But the problem is the manager now wants Ronaldo to mentor all these younger players.

"That’s left Harry in no man’s land, as he’s the captain and having to say and follow whatever Ronaldo says, to keep everything sweet."

Elsewhere on Twitter earlier this week, Rashford also hit back at rumors of a dressing room split and that the "English players" are unhappy as per Ronaldo's increasing power backstage at the club "with his own clique".

"Are we just making it up as we go along now then? Please stop looking for divides," he demanded.

On Sunday, the trio and the rest of the team will have to put the gossip behind them when they take on bitter rivals Leeds United at Elland Road.

Then on the following Wednesday, Manchester United travel to the Wanda Metropolitano to face reigning La Liga kings and one of Ronaldo's former enemies in Atletico Madrid in the Champions League knockout stages.