The boss firmly declined to answer the question but there is bound to be plenty of debate as to who fills in for the skipper, as he serves a one-game suspension following the fifth yellow card of his Premier League campaign, against Bournemouth last Saturday.

"Yes I know [who it will be]," said Erik. "[Will I tell you?] No."

When pushed on the matter by MUTV's Mark Sullivan in our club media interview, the manager explained why he could not reveal the details, saying: "It is not a secret but, first, I want to tell the player and the team who it is."

Bruno's absence on Sunday, for the visit to arch-rivals Liverpool, is a blow but somebody will step up to lead the side at Anfield.

There are a number of contenders for the role but, following Erik's team news update on Friday, Harry Maguire is now on a list of absentees that already included the likes of Lisandro Martinez, Casemiro and Christian Eriksen. All of them are experienced characters worthy of taking on the armband.

Luke Shaw trained on Friday, despite being a major doubt when going off at half-time against Bayern Munich, and he is another senior figure, as is homegrown forward Marcus Rashford, who has overcome the illness that has dogged him over the past week.

Raphael Varane returned to the side on Tuesday, and has clear credentials for the captaincy, while Scott McTominay knows what it means to represent United in such a fixture. The same can certainly be said of Jonny Evans, who has played 21 times against Liverpool in his career, winning more games than he has lost against them.

Sweden skipper Victor Lindelof could be an option but his availability is in doubt, after missing the last two fixtures due to the injury that forced his half-time withdrawal in our 2-1 win over Chelsea.

The only other game Fernandes has missed so far this season was the Carabao Cup win over Crystal Palace at Old Trafford, when he was an unused substitute. Varane was skipper on that occasion.

In the next round, against Newcastle United, Bruno came off the bench so the man who led the team out was Casemiro, but the Brazil captain is still battling to get back to fitness.

So there is a question to be answered on this front and there's even the possibility of a surprise choice, someone who hasn't previously captained the side. We'll discover who gets the nod when the team is announced one hour before Sunday's 16:30 GMT kick-off.