Arsenal: 5 reasons Granit Xhaka should be captain… again

Arsenal may be in need of another new captain if they sell their two current ones, so here are five reasons that new captain should be our old captain—Granit Xhaka.

It’s been about a decade since Arsenal have been able to keep a captain for a full season, let alone two. It used to be that Arsene Wenger would hand the armband to whoever was about to leave, whether that was by being sold, or retiring. Robin van Persie, Per Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta? All on the exit when handed the band.

More recently, the band has gone to Granit Xhaka, who’s spat with the fans lost him the band; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is probably going to be sold this summer; and Hector Bellerin, who may also be sold this summer.

I don’t know why, but it is proving to be hardest to keep the guys meant to be the heartbeat of the club. And that just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, so I would like to bring the armband all the way back around to a man that’s already worn it—Granit Xhaka.

Before you hate me too much, let me talk about why this is still a great idea, even if Xhaka isn’t all that enthused about it. Here are five reasons he should take the armband again. Starting with No. 5.

5. He’s a leader

Plain and simple, no way around it. Granit Xhaka is one of the leaders of this club, armband or not. Arsene Wenger saw it, Unai Emery saw it, Mikel Arteta saw it. Freddie Ljungberg probably did too. Xhaka is a positive influence on and off the pitch, he is always keeping order and shape on and serving as a team leader off, he’s just got all the makings of a captain.

That’s why he was given the armband in the first place. Because he was a leader. Duh. So in the complete lapse of another worthy candidate (bar David Luiz, who will follow the old trend), why not go with a natural leader?

Speaking of which, No. 4 is next.