Martin Keown believes that Ben White or Gabriel Magalhaes will be named Arsenal captain ahead of ‘crowd favourite’ Aaron Ramsdale.
It was announced today that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been removed from his role as captain after his latest disciplinary breach, having been dropped from the playing squad ahead of the weekend’s match with Southampton, and will remain on the sidelines against West Ham in midweek.
It remains to be seen whether a new captain will be named in the mean time, but former Arsenal defender Keown believes one of our two centre-backs will get the job, despite Aaron Ramsdale’s impressive showings this term.
“I think it is going to be Ben White or Gabriel being the captain,” Keown told BBC Sport(via Football365).
“I can’t see him going to [Granit] Xhaka although he goes straight back into that team and stays there. The one I’m looking at as a leader is Aaron Ramsdale, he is looking like a crowd favourite but he’s a goalkeeper. I’d rather have someone in the engine room.
“I’d have given it to Kieran Tierney. I’d have put him straight back in the team recently and now you would not have this dilemma but we will have see what Mikel Arteta comes up with.”
While I don’t disagree with the leadership qualities shown by Ramsdale and Gabriel, I’m not sure I’ve seen anything to suggest that White would make a good captain.
Ramsdale would likely be a good captain, but many teams prefer to have an outfield player as captain in the modern era, and I don’t disagree with that thinking at all.
How do you rate Gabriel or White as potential captains?
Patrick
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