Arsenal: Hector Bellerin the perfectly unusual captain candidate

Unai Emery’s quintet of Arsenal captains is being decimated. Perhaps it is time to look outside the box and turn towards the unusual but ideal Hector Bellerin.

Last summer, when Unai Emery was assessing his Arsenal squad and working out what type of characters and players he was inheriting at the club, one of the key questions that was asked of him was who the captain — read that as leaders, as not just the captain leads the team — would be.

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Emery, after some deliberation, named five players as captains: Petr Cech, Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil. At the time, those names seemed perfectly understandable. However, as the first season has progressed, Emery’s thinking has not quite unveiled as he would have hoped.

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Now, just a year later, of those five players, only one could be viewed as a reliable captain candidate. Cech and Ramsey will leave this summer, Arsenal are actively trying to shop Ozil, with his relationship with Emery faltering, and Koscielny could leave as well with a reported dispute regarding his contract. Even if Koscielny were to remain, he likely would not be a regular starter and it would still leave Emery a little light on the leadership front.

As always, the Gunners need leaders. So, perhaps it is time to look out of the normal skill set that a leader embodies, to move away from the striding central midfielder, the domineering midfielder, the gesturing, gobby full-back. Perhaps it is time to look outside the box a little and select a character that is more in-tune with the modern game and all of the societal developments that come with the game now played by the Millenial generation. Perhaps it is time to turn to Hector Bellerin.

He may not seem like the most obvious candidate. He does not bellow instructions, he is not six-foot-four with strapping shoulders, he does exude being a leader. But quietly and confidently, he has proven himself to be an individual of great quality and character, someone who the players rally around, an eight-year servant who deeply understands and loves the club.

Where Bellerin has really shined as a person is off the field. He is wonderfully self-aware, he has educated himself on social, economic, environmental issues, he has interests that extend beyond football, which is important in the modern-day dressing room, he always has time to converse with fans, he provides a peek into life as a footballer without being haughty and obnoxious.

This is the kind of man that should be leading a modern football club. This is the kind of man that should be leading Arsenal football club. He may not boast the commanding presence of Patrick Vieira. He may not hoot and holler like Tony Adams. But in 2019, there are different ways of leading. Just look at how he comforted Ainsley Maitland-Niles after the Europa League final loss. That is a leader.

Bellerin is not the quintessential football captain. He does not match up to the stereotype. But perhaps that is precisely why he is the perfect candidate. As James Benge in Football.London agrees, it might just be time to look outside the box.