Who Should Be Arsenal’s Next Captain?
Looking at the season he’s had and considering the competition in Arsenal’s midfield, the Arsenal skipper Mikel Arteta looks likely to leave the club at the end of the season, despite signing a new contract not so long ago. Now even if Arsene Wenger decides to retain his services for another campaign, the Spaniard will mostly be a fringe player at the club, considering the emergence of Francis Coquelin and with another defensive midfielder likely to join the club. So who should take over the captaincy at the Emirates?
The obvious choice is the man who wears the armband at the moment, vice-captain Per Mertesacker. The German is a pretty decent skipper and is certainly experienced enough to shoulder the responsibilities that the armband brings. However, a slight complication in this case is that BFG might not be first-choice in central defence for very long. It seems as though Gabriel impresses more and more with every game he plays and in my opinion, he will take over by next season. The Brazilian’s flawless performance against West Brom is a great illustration of his potential.
While I do realise that it’s not mandatory for a captain to be consistently on the pitch, my preference would be for that to be the case, which is why my choice for captaincy would be Aaron Ramsey. Having already captained the Wales national team, the midfielder will be well aware of the responsibilities and he will represent a long-term solution for captaincy. At 24 years of age, he is at the prime of his career and I’m sure that giving him the armband will motivate him to pick up his game even more.
The Welshman, in my opinion, will set an ideal example for the rest of the squad, in terms of ability, work-rate and discipline. For me, it is a no-brainer, Aaron Ramsey should be the next Arsenal captain. While there are also other potential candidates like Laurent Koscielny and Jack Wishere, I believe Rambo would be a better choice. In fact, I can go as far as to say that I can see him being the Arsenal skipper for many, many years to come.
Anurag