Willam Gallas, Cesc Fabregas, Kolo Toure, Manuel Almunia, Lukasz Fabianski, Robin Van Persie, Andrei Arshavin, Kolo Toure and Mikael Silvestre all led Arsenal out the tunnel last season. With the addition of Thomas Vermaelen Arsenal have yet another captain to wear the armband.

Since the departures of Patrick Viera and Tony Adams, Arsenal have been in dire need of a natural captain. Upon the signing of William Gallas, Wenger thought he had found one. The new number 10 seemed as strong in heart as he is in the tackle. However as he penned his Arsenal contract the warning signs were strewn across the back pages as a story emerged from Chelsea that Gallas threatened to score an own goal if the club did not allow him to leave. And what eventually followed suggested Gallas was indeed something of a loose cannon. His childish petulance after the draw at St Andrews and then his outburst against his team-mates the following season meant that he had to be stripped of the armband.

Step forward Wenger’s golden boy, Cesc Fabregas. When the young Spaniard was given the captaincy at the tender age of 21 it certainly raised some eyebrows. Although memory turns to Tony Adams, a captain at 18, quashed most dissatisfaction. However, Fabregas and Adams are not only different players but have a substantial difference in personality. Fabregas, barely out of his teenage years, tends to sulk when he’s not on form or if Arsenal are up against it. When he is being interviewed he looks like an embarrassed schoolboy, shying away from the camera, grinning modestly. When you see Adams interviewed he’ll stare you square in the face and tell it straight. Fabregas may be the best player in the Arsenal squad and the best candidate for captain but unlike Adams or Vieira he is not a natural leader. When you think about it Arsenal don’t really have a natural leader at all.

Kolo Toure certainly had the spirit to be our leader. He wore his heart on his sleeve. But I doubt whether he has what it takes to bollock a player if he’s not playing well himself. Arshavin, captain of the Russian side, is definitely a candidate for at least vice-captain. He has experience (albeit only in the Russian league) and after last season’s performances must surely have the respect of his colleagues. Van Persie has led Arsenal out a number of times this season; but again he’s not a natural captain. Like Henry and Fabregas he leads by example. But what do you do when that example is not good enough? To whom do you turn?

Wenger has talked about Arsenal as a team of captains when he signed Arshavin. One name not mentioned in the first paragraph is Denilson, who is yet to wear the armband. He has captained Brazil in every age group from the U-15s to the U-23s. Maybe he’s the natural captain Arsenal lack. If he sticks around, Philippe Senderos speaks six languages! Shame he doesn’t speak the language of football too well. Since Rosicky has finally come out of retirement the Czech captain adds to another so called leader to the Arsenal squad.

Maybe Fabregas will come of age and flourish in the captaincy this season, but until Arsenal have a captain who they can rely on, they will forever be struggling for fourth place. Also if Fabregas is lifted of the burden of the captaincy it could result in some even better and more consistent performances. A team of captains certainly has its upside but who is the “capo de tutti capi” on the field? The boss of the bosses.

Man Utd, Liverpool and Chelsea all have experienced natural skippers leading them out every week. Arsenal have too many vice-captains looking for an example to follow, when all the while one of them should be setting it themselves. Maybe a solid captain would have held it together in the past two seasons, making sure Arsenal were still battling come May. Who knows? Wenger may be the father of this team but they need an older brother or two to look up to when times get tough.