Arsenal: Maybe Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the best captain

Arsenal’s captaincy is always up for debate, but for as many questions met Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s appointment, maybe it was the best decision.

Maybe it’s just me because I feel like no one else gets as worked up about it, but I always pay attention to who’s wearing the Arsenal captain’s armband. And yes, this was symptomatic before Granit Xhaka was named and subsequently stripped of the captaincy. It means an awful lot and, as such, I was not very impressed when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was named club captain.

It felt like a “who else do we have?” kind of an appointment. The safe, short-term option. Which has always been the method by which Arsenal appointed their captains. Who was most likely to leave at the end of the year? Give him the armband.

That’s what captain Aubameyang felt like. He was the guy most tied to an exit, he was seemingly the guy most likely to make his decision based on if we could reach the level he wanted to be at or not. That doesn’t strike me as the right candidate.

Then again, maybe that makes him exactly the right candidate. He’s the kind of guy who is at the level we want to be at and will demand that those around him play at that level too. That’s not such a bad principle to set.

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But more than that, and this may sound cheesy as hell, but Aubameyang is also the main reason why I find myself smiling. This is a guy who loves his football, but he’s a great mentor as well. You look at how quick he is to celebrate with the likes of Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka.

We’ve seen how much he supports Alexandre Lacazette before and now we are seeing that chemistry develop with Nicolas Pepe as well. And so quickly. It’s like Aubameyang has been around the world and played with so many superstars that he knows how best to make an attack tick. Or something like that.

I’m not sure what will happen this summer, and we probably won’t know until we get right to the end of the season. But I’m gradually beginning to think that he is well worth the cost of keeping.

There’s still time for that to change, same with what European competition we end up in, if any. But all things considered, he seems like an excellent candidate to help take this club forward.