Controversy escalates over Arsenal captaincy

RvP future remains uncertain

By Zain Alvi | 6th October 2011

Although much of the world’s football activity has moved towards the internationals, Arsenal continue to make headlines on the domestic front, with uncertainty over the future of the captain’s armband causing more unrest at the Emirates Stadium.

In the aftermath of the Gunners’ 2-1 derby day defeat to the Spurs on Sunday, goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny told reporters that one day, he is looking forward to the day he assumes the club’s captaincy and also hinted at a future move to Barcelona if the opportunity arises.

Reporters misinterpreted his words, which he uttered during an interview with the Polish media, and on Wednesday, speculation was rife that Szczesny was eyeing the armband because of his dissatisfaction with current skipper Robin van Persie.

Earlier this season, manager Arsene Wenger described van Persie as an atypical leader who likes to inspire teammates with his actions rather than being continuously vocal.

Therefore, the coming together of all such comments raised questions over van Persie’s reputation as a locker room leader but Szczesny took to Twitter a few hours ago, clarifying that he is completely content with the Dutchman’s captaincy.

“I got annoyed with a few things about myself in the media recently so I’m gonna set the record straight. I never said I deserve the Arsenal armband. I said that I would love to one day take the responsibility of being an Arsenal skipper. RvP is doing a great job as a skipper and he fully deserves the armband,” the Poland international stated.

Nevertheless, Szczesny’s comments did little to consolidate van Persie’s personal stance in regards to seeing a long-term future at Arsenal as the Dutchman refused to commit while on international duty with the Netherlands.

“I do not know [what I will do], I cannot predict the future. Everybody makes his own history and only afterwards can you see how that went,” the 28-year old said in an interview with the Times.

While van Persie insists that he has no particular intentions to follow former teammates Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, and Samir Nasri by joining Manchester City, he also hinted that if a move ends up being on the cards, he will prefer staying in the English top flight.

“Nevertheless, I think the Premier League is still the best league in the world, it gives me everything I want,” he concluded.

While Szczesny has withdrawn from Poland’s squad due to injury, van Persie will lead an injury-plagued Dutch attack against Moldova tomorrow.