Arsenal: Why is there no club captain?

For the first home match of the season, Granit Xhaka will write a ‘voice from the dressing room’ piece, rather than the usual captain’s notes. That suggests that Arsenal do not have a club captain. Why might that be?

When Laurent Koscielny refused to travel with the squad on their pre-season tour of United States, it sent the Arsenal squad into a state of shock. While there were murmours that he wanted to leave the club in the summer, no one quite believed that the club captain would go to such lengths to engineer an exit. And yet, that is precisely what happened.

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Koscielny made it clear that he was not going to be playing his football in north London this season, and eventually, Arsenal were forced to sell. His subsequent has left the squad a little bare of obvious captain candidates in his stead, with many of the long-serving players either being eased out of the team or sold altogether. It leaves a bit of dilemma.

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Like last summer, Unai Emery has again said that he wants to have five captains in the squad. But at present, he only has three: Mesut Ozil, Nacho Monreal, and the leading candidate to inherit Koscielny’s position, Granit Xhaka.

He has been the captain throughout the pre-season when he was on the pitch, was the captain last week against Newcastle United, and will take on the role of the captain in this weekend’s programme, providing a ‘Voice of the Dressing Room’ piece in the place of the usual captain’s notes.

Nevertheless, despite all of this, Xhaka is not the club captain, because Emery is yet to name his five candidates, one of which will be the leading figure. So why?

Well, it is quite difficult to understand why Emery has been so hesitant to name his captains. It is not as if he is going to make any new signings. There are only two reasons that I can think would force him to justifiably delay his decision: the potential sale of Nacho Monreal; a lack of trust in Xhaka to be the leading captain.

With Kieran Tierney now in the squad, Emery could choose Sead Kolasinac as his reserve left-back and hope to cash in on a Monreal who is in the final year of his contract. A return to Spain has been muted in the past. Perhaps Emery is waiting to announce his captains because he is not sure whether Monreal will be at the club to be a part of them.

The second is more troubling. Given the midfield additions that were made this summer, as well as the anticipated development of Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Joe Willock, Emery might be doubting his inclusion of Xhaka in the starting XI. Obviously, that does not prevent Xhaka from being the club captain still, but if Monreal, Xhaka and Ozil are your leading three, you might not actually have a captain on the pitch, and so Emery is delaying the decision simply because he does not trust it. Tthat is obviously a major worry.

Why Arsenal do not have an official, named club captain, I do not really know. This is just speculation, in reality. And whether it actually matters, I almost not so sure. As long as you have leaders on the pitch, is who wears some fabric around their arm significant? Nevertheless, Emery has delayed this decision, and I am not really sure why.