Four Manchester United stars are spearheading a "leadership group" deemed crucial to Erik ten Hag's push to revive the club.
The Old Trafford boss endured a difficult start to his much-scrutinised tenure - including a 4-0 humiliation at Brentford - but recent results have hinted at a turnaround in fortunes. Ten Hag scooped the Premier League's Manager of the Month award for September, only the second United boss to do so since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.
United have won four on the bounce since being battered by Brentford and face a huge test of their credentials on Sunday afternoon away at champions and old rivals Manchester City. But confidence will be high in the United camp and The Telegraph report Ten Hag 's anointing of a four-man group to set the tone in the dressing room is a key factor in their recent upturn. It's said Bruno Fernandes, David de Gea, backup keeper Tom Heaton and much-maligned club captain Harry Maguire are the quartet the former Ajax boss is leaning on to run the dressing room.
United have been plagued by internal leaks that pointed to an unhappy camp over the past several seasons and it appears Ten Hag is hell-bent on instilling a more positive culture. With that in mind, the Dutch boss is also said to be enforcing a "no d****heads" rule when it comes to identifying potential signings. He added Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez, Tyrell Malacia, Casemiro and Antony to his squad over the summer months.
And despite dropping England centre-back Maguire from his starting line-up, it seems the manager is still counting on the 29-year-old to lead by example off the pitch. The defender will miss the Manchester derby through injury but Ten Hag has backed him to turn his season around.
He said: “First of all, of course I have to coach him, I have to back him. But I back him because I believe in him. The period I worked with him in pre-season was good, I think I would say really good – training and games. Then he fell out (of the starting lineup) but it’s also to do with the good performance of the centre-backs who are playing now.
“But I can see the qualities. Even after he wasn’t in the team, he trained really well but more important the quality was really there. You see his career, almost 50 caps for England. With Leicester and Man United, he’s performing really well so what you see is he has a high potential.
“Then it’s about him. The players in the dressing room, the coaches, the manager – we all believe in him. Now it is about him. That is what I told him. I’m sure he can do it. He will turn around this. I am really convinced of that.”
