Ole Gunnar-Solskjaer made several changes for Manchester United’s narrow Carabao Cup win on penalties over Rochdale but the biggest piece of team news was his captain choice.
Despite Paul Pogba returning to the starting XI and other experienced stars such as Sergio Romero, Phil Jones and Jesse Lingard all taking to the pitch, young Axel Tuanzebe was given the nod to lead out the club.
Hailing from Rochdale, the defender – who spent last season on loan at Aston Villa – has now captained the Red Devils in every age group, and Solskjaer suggested he could be wearing the armband for many years to come.
The United manager told TalkSport: ‘Axel is a captain in the making, he’s a leader – why not give to young kids?
‘We know we can give it to Sergio and we can give it to Paul, that’s no problem and they’ve been captains before.
‘But it was Axel today and how does he handle it? He was absolutely fine, he enjoyed it.
‘It’s just a way of telling him that we trust him.’
Tuanzebe’s debut as Manchester United skipper almost ended in disaster, with United needing penalties to advance.
Mason Greenwood had put them in front before 16-year-old Luke Matheson supplied an equaliser with just over 10 minutes of normal time remaining. Summer signing Daniel James scored the winning spot-kick.
Young defender Tuanzebe – who spent last season on loan at Aston Villa – was surprised to be given the nod to captain his boyhood club.
‘Dreams do come true. I had goosebumps as I was walking out. It is something I have been working on for a long time and the moment finally came,’ he said.
‘I am just grateful to the manager and grateful to the club and the players I am playing with for sharing this moment with me.
‘It was a nice surprise. I was literally getting ready to stretch and loosen up and Mike Phelan just came to me and said ‘are you ready to go and see the referee’. ‘I said ‘what do you mean?’ and he said, ‘Come on you are captain’. So I said ‘alright, let’s get it’.’
