With the current holder of the Arsenal captain’s armband, Mikel Arteta, having started only two games for the Gunners this season and neither of them was in the Premier League, it looks ever more likely that the curtains will close on his Arsenal career in the summer. His playing career at least as there is talk of the Spaniard staying with the club in some sort of coaching capacity.
What that will mean is that Arsene Wenger will yet again have to choose another club captain, something the Frenchman has had to do a lot more than he would have liked in recent years. Things have not exactly run smoothly with some of his picks and so Wenger will be keen to give the armband this time to the right man.
Fabregas and van Persie forced their way out of the club after being made captain and are now universally unpopular with the fans. Then we had the Verminator Thomas Vermaelen whose appointment as captain was immediately followed by a string of injury problems and loss of form.
If Arteta does hang up his boots, you might think that the current vice captain would get the nod but that is Per Mertesacker and at the moment he has lost his place in the first team. Surely we want a captain who is likely to be on the pitch, just like our best defender Laurent Koscielny.
The French centre back wore the armband in the Premier League for the first time in Bournemouth and was reported by The Mirror talking about how proud that made him.
He said, “It’s more pride. It was the first time in the league. I’d already had the armband in the Cup against Sunderland and then Burnley, but this honour doesn’t add more pressure.
“I believe every player has an important role to play in a team and he needs to fulfil it.
“However, this armband will remain something important in my career. Legends like Tony Adams or Thierry Henry wore it before me. That’s not nothing!”
But is Koscielny the right man to be our next permanent club captain? Having just turned 30 the centre back should be at the top of his game for a few more years but even though he is a brilliant player I am not sure he is vocal enough with his team mates.
The captain needs to be a leader on the pitch and for that reason I would be looking at Petr Cech or one of the players that have been with the club for years, maybe Francis Coquelin. What do you guys reckon?