Arsenal coach Unai Emery has named defender Laurent Koscielny as the club’s captain. Koscielny will success Per Mertesacker who retired following the end of last season. Koscielny has been a regular for Arsenal since his debut in 2010. So far, the Frenchman has played 324 matches for the club, scoring 24 goals.
Emery has also chosen Petr Cech, Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsey and Mesut Ozil as the captains after Koscielny.
The 33-year old won’t be donning the captain’s armband in The Gunners’ Premier League opener against Manchester City on Sunday since he still hasn’t recovered from his achilles tendon injury which prevented him from being a part of France’s World Cup campaign. So, one of the other four captains will lead The Gunners on Sunday.
Talking to the club’s official website, Emery said, “The captain of this group is Laurent Koscielny, who is injured at the moment. After Laurent, our other captains are Petr Cech, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka. I want leaders in the team, every player at every time to have the capacity to show leadership, but these are the five players who have a possibility to be the captain.”
Arsenal play their first Premier League match since Arsenal against Manchester City on Sunday.
