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Arsene Wenger Confirms New Arsenal Captain Following Vermaelen Exit
Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Mikel Arteta is the new Arsenal captain following the sale of Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona.
Many fans have been calling for the boss to hand the captains armband to Per Mertesacker after seeing Vermaelen join Barca on Saturday.
However, speaking after our 3-0 win over Manchester City in the Community Shield today, Arsene confirmed to reporters that Arteta will be the new captain with Mertesacker the vice captain.
The London Evening Standard journalist James Olley confirmed the news on Twitter:
Wenger confirms Mikel Arteta as #afc captain for the season (he's out of contract in the summer). Per Mertesacker named vice-captain.
— James Olley (@JamesOlley) August 10, 2014
Like most others, I would have preferred Per to get the nod but Arsene has decided to stick to his guns and promote Arteta to skipper after the Spaniard was vice-captain to Vermaelen last season.
Some fans are freaking out thinking this means we wont be signing a defensive midfielder this summer, but I don’t see it that way. The boss doesn’t really care too much for who the ‘captain’ is and he’s admitted this in the past, so I wouldn’t look too much into this.
He was happy for Vermaelen to sit on the bench when captain, so I wouldn’t see this as a sign that we won’t bring in another defensive midfielder this season.
Razib Ahmed
August 10, 2014 at 6:07 pm
Arsenal fans like I have been waiting for this day for many years. We always knew that we would have to be patient about our budget as we had to pass the burden of building the Emirates Stadium. After FA Cup and Community Shield, we really feel vindicated. We have kept our faith on Arsene Wenger and the self-sustaining model of Arsenal.
Fans of other clubs, we don’t mind if you still laugh at us. May be, this is our last season to laugh at us. We really don’t mind. Our good time has really started. So, please enjoy yourself as long as you can. We are heading towards becoming the strongest club in England with best manager and best financial model and most dedicated supporters. We really have the winning combination.