Arsenal’s pre-season got underway on Wednesday with a win against AC Milan.
Of course, you can’t take too much away from these pre-season matches as they’re mostly tune-up games for players to get back into the rhythm of things.
However, there was a lot of excitement surrounding this game as Arsenal fans got the chance to see some new signings and some young players for the first time.
Ethan Nwaneri impressed vs Milan, but, it must be reiterated that this was only a pre-season match.
While there may not be too much to glean from any individual performances, there may be something to take away from one decision Mikel Arteta made ahead of the game.
Indeed, Arteta made a decision before the AC Milan match that may lead to a somewhat uncomfortable conversation with Declan Rice.
Bukayo Saka was picked to wear the captain’s armband for Arsenal vs AC Milan on Wednesday in the absence of Martin Odegaard.
There is something of a hole to plug in terms of leadership at Arsenal right now after Jorginho departed at the end of last season.
Indeed, there’s a vice captaincy role to fill, and it would appear Saka has got the nod in this regard.
Of course, Saka is a great choice as the winger is a fantastic player and his personality is fantastic.
However, Declan Rice has been tipped as a future Arsenal captain in the past, and he may feel like this is something of a snub.
Rice has been a brilliant leader at Arsenal in recent times, and he’s earned the right to make that next step up, but, sadly, on this occasion, it doesn’t appear he’s going to be given this extra responsibility.
Rice is unlikely to kick up a fuss about being seemingly being overlooked for the vice captaincy at Arsenal, but it is worth remembering that Rice does have ambitions to become a leader at Arsenal.
Indeed, Rice stated last season that he’d love to be the Arsenal captain if Martin Odegaard was unable to fulfil his duties, via The Mail.
‘When I got to captain West Ham, I was growing in confidence and as a leader. I still see myself going that way. There is Martin Odegaard at my club. I’m not thinking about it, but if anything were to ever happen to him, I really would love to put the armband on for Arsenal,” Rice said.
Rice doesn’t want to ruffle any feathers behind the scenes, but it may be worth having a chat with Arteta to understand where he stands in the leadership group at Arsenal and if he could indeed work his way up to becoming captain one day.
