James Olley: It’s no wonder Arsenal have leadership problems when role of captain isn’t valued

Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, the designated club captain has started just 13 Premier League games
David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images
James Olley17 May 2017

The role of Arsenal club captain should probably come with hazard pay these days. Per Mertesacker, the current incumbent, was deemed sufficiently fit following last summer’s knee surgery to return to a matchday squad for Arsenal’s FA Cup tie at Southampton on January 28.

The 32-year-old was an unused substitute and has been on the bench a further four times since but is yet to play a single minute of first-team football this season.

Manager Arsene Wenger told me during a press conference on April 4 that Mertesacker had been “available for a while now” and that “physically he is ready but he lacks competition”.

Bizarrely given that assessment, Mertesacker has not featured for the reserves either and it is understood he has not even played a game behind closed doors. But in the midst of all this, the Gunners decided to exercise an option to extend his contract by a further year to the summer of 2018, at least in part because Wenger is believed to value Mertesacker’s experience and professionalism around London Colney.

So there is the distinct possibility that Mertesacker will retain the captain’s armband next season despite his unavailability extending a curious run of absence for Arsenal club captains.

Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, the designated club captain has started just 13 Premier League games. Mertesacker, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Vermaelen all suffered serious setbacks with injury before finding their place in the team hard to regain.

Vermaelen may have left for Barcelona in the summer of 2014 but he was left out of the starting line-up when fit for Arsenal’s final four League games and their FA Cup Final win against Hull prior to leaving.

​Arteta struggled terribly with his fitness last season, failing to start a League game and Mertesacker was named the Spaniard’s successor in pre-season, even when the severity of his knee injury was already known.

And in that decision lies evidence supporting the widely-held view that Arsenal lack leaders. Why would Wenger entrust a player with such a position when it was already apparent he would be unable to contribute on the field for several months? Perhaps it is because the Arsenal manager does not subscribe to the view the captaincy can ever have a tangible effect on performance. “The captaincy is overplayed, without a doubt,” he said in February 2010. “Maybe in some other sports, the captain has a bit more importance.”

After Tony Adams retired in 2002, Wenger increasingly began to use the captaincy to motivate players for specific, personal reasons. Patrick Vieira was a logical choice to take over but he had been the subject of interest from Manchester United a year earlier before Real Madrid and Chelsea joined his list of admirers in 2003.

Despite Vieira agitating to leave, Wenger retained him as captain until allowing a move to Juventus in 2005, when Thierry Henry was given the responsibility. Henry was a leader by example only and, again, the armband was effectively used as a device to stave off interest from Barcelona.

In Pictures | Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal captains

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William Gallas, a surprising choice given the presence of a more measured figure in Gilberto Silva, had the captaincy for the 2007-08 campaign but was demoted early into his second season after heavily criticising team-mates in an interview.

To once again attempt to repel Barcelona from snatching one of Arsenal’s best players, Wenger named Cesc Fabregas as captain aged 21.

Fabregas, Robin van Persie and Vermaelen all overcome the symbolic gesture to depart. More recently, Arteta and Mertesacker have been selected as a display of loyalty and to galvanise injury-stricken players in their bid to recover full fitness.

Defining the captaincy in this way is seemingly at odds with Arsenal’s rivals; as the above table shows, the other top-six sides have sought to involve their club captain more regularly, even accounting for Vincent Kompany’s injury troubles at Manchester City or John Terry’s slow march to the exit door at Chelsea.

The best captains maintain high standards in work rate, organise team-mates and encourage astute game management. Arsenal’s collective failings in these areas suggest a rethink may be required if Wenger stays as manager.

Petr Cech and Laurent Koscielny are the most obvious candidates but the latter revealed yesterday he requires management on an Achilles injury for the rest of his career.

Yet if past form is anything to go by, that should make him nailed on to become Arsenal captain.

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