Former Arsenal defender Nigel Winterburn has urged Unai Emery to name new recruit David Luiz as the club’s new captain for this season.
Luiz, 32, joined the Gunners in an £8million deal from Premier League rivals Chelsea on deadline day to provide a much-needed boost to Emery’s defence following the departure of Laurent Koscielny.
The centre-back will be hoping to make his debut for the club against Burnley this weekend after he was an unused substitute during the win over Newcastle last weekend.
And despite only recently linking up with Emery’s squad, Winterburn believes that the Brazilian has the qualities to wear the armband and emulate former skipper Tony Adams.
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“Emery should make David Luiz his captain for this season,” he told Sportingbet . “He has the ability to be that Tony Adams figure in Arsenal ’s backline.
“I know he’s new, but that doesn’t worry me at all.
“A captain needs to be someone that’s vocal, someone that’s not scared to make people aware of their responsibilities within a game just because they might upset them for five minutes.”
Arsenal boss Emery named five captains in his first season in charge at the Emirates Stadium, with Petr Cech, Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Granit Xhaka all appointed to back up main captain Koscielny.
(Image: PA)
However, only Ozil and Xhaka remain from that group with Ramsey and Koscielny departing during the summer, while Cech retired from football at end of the previous campaign.
Although Emery confirmed he has added Nacho Monreal to his list of captains for the new season, Winterburn admitted he would prefer to see the Spaniard move away from the policy.
He continued: “Like a lot of supporters, I’m not a fan of this rotational five-man captain.
“Of course, every player should have the ability to be a captain on the pitch and let other players know if there is a problem but you need a figurehead – someone who can lead by example.
“I’m not around the training ground a lot, and that’s where Emery will see who are the big, strong, vocal characters, who are not afraid to upset people if they need to be upset.
“If you haven’t got a vocal captain in the squad, then Emery should choose someone like Aubameyang, a player that will lead by example on the pitch and will play the majority of games.
“Most importantly, Emery needs to choose one captain and a vice captain so they can shoulder the responsibility.”
