Arsenal: It was always going to—deservedly—be Granit Xhaka

Arsenal’s captaincy has opened up, and there was only ever one man who could step up and assume the armband and do it justice—Granit Xhaka.

Granit Xhaka is a leader of men. He’s a tremendous asset on and off the pitch and a pillar of value in whatever capacity he is used. He’s scapegoated more times than not by disgruntled and fickle Arsenal fans, but when you get down to it, the team is far better off with him than without him.

And now, he’s supposedly stepping up to take on the captaincy in what would be a move for the betterment of the present and the future of the team, and a solution to our captaincy woes that have been ongoing for the past decade. But the worst part has come this season.

Arsenal’s captaincy became a mess as soon as the season ended. With Laurent Koscielny bafflingly falling out with the club, Petr Cech going back to Chelsea, Aaron Ramsey being allowed to leave and Mesut Ozil being… Mesut Ozil, by process of elimination, Granit Xhaka is the only man the captaincy could have ever fallen to.

Meaning that Unai Emery would have had to take it away from Xhaka if he felt like it belonged with anyone else, or if he felt that Xhaka didn’t deserve it.

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But Emery is openly speaking about the next captain of the club, and how Xhaka is a worthy candidate, and as someone who has been 100% sold on Xhaka from the moment he arrived, by little heart can barely take it.

The captaincy at the Emirates has been a pet peeve of mine because it doesn’t seem to mean as much as it should. The captain should embody the club, love the club, not be willing to leave the club as soon as a better offer pops up on the table.

So many of our previous captains have skedaddled within just a couple years of getting the armband, for one reason or another, and Xhaka is perhaps the first guy in a while who I feel confident investing the armband in, because he has been outspoken about his love for the club. When he was rumored to be leaving, he smacked the rumors down like an annoying mosquito.

This is the only captain we need. Give the vice captaincy to whoever you want, but Xhaka will be the captain we’ve needed for years.