Not Bruno Fernandes, Ralf Rangnick Picks Manchester United's Future Captain

Ralf Rangnick has backed Scott McTominay to captain Manchester United one day after the midfielder led his side to FA Cup third-round victory over Aston Villa on Monday.

McTominay headed an eighth-minute goal past Emiliano Martinez, which turned out to be the only goal in Manchester United's 1-0 win at Old Trafford. It was the Scottish midfielder's second goal in the last three games.

"He is an academy boy, his energy is amazing. He has now also started scoring goals and also with some leadership skills. I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years he would be the captain of this team," Rangnick told BBC Sport after his side's 1-0 win in FA Cup.

Manchester United were without Cristiano Ronaldo, Harry Maguire, Jadon Sancho and Phil Jones for the game against Aston Villa as all the four players had a muscle issue. The injuries are not serious.

"They are having problems. I wouldn't say that they are injured, but they have muscular problems," Rangnick said ahead of the clash with Villa, Man Utd's website showed.

In the absence of Maguire and Ronaldo, midfielder Bruno Fernandes captained Manchester United on Monday. While Fernandes is believed to be next in line to receive the captain's armband, he may have stiff competition from McTominay.

Rangnick also heaped praise on goalkeeper David de Gea, calling the Spaniard "outstanding."

"We have to develop the team into a clean sheet team and that was another one today, but still David de Gea was outstanding again for me today. I would have wanted him to have less saves in total, I think we had four or five shots on goal, but again we can still improve even in that area," Rangnick added in the same press conference after Man Utd's victory.

The German boss was overall happy with his side's performance as he said he saw "more aggression."

"I saw more aggression, but I didn't necessarily see that much more pressing, because, in order to see those pressing moments, you have to get into those pressing moments. As I said, it's difficult against Villa. But what I saw was a team that desperately wanted to win and, in the end, that's why we won the game," added Rangnick.