Parlour: Vermaelen would make a good captain

Ray Parlour has hinted that he believes Thomas Vermaelen should be the next Arsenal captain.

Current skipper Cesc Fabregas nearly left the club for Barcelona in the summer, and doubts remain over his long-term future at the club.

Former Gunners midfielder Parlour has suggested that Fabregas is the wrong type of leader anyway, and would like to see Arsène Wenger sign a Tony Adams-type at the back, or simply promote Vermaelen to captain when the Belgian returns from injury.

Parlour explained: "I do think they need a Tony Adams – a leader at the back.

"I just think is there a centre-half out there like a Tony Adams who can really drive that team on because trust me when I played there and you wasn't doing your job you got told straight away and I think that's what they're missing at the moment.

"I think it's one of these times where if he thinks Vermaelen can do the job give him the skipper's armband and say to him 'these are skipper's we use to have, Tony Adams, Patrick Vieira, who used to drive the team on, can you do that' and see if he can do it."

The Arsenal legend has also listed the likes of Bolton's Gary Cahill and Everton's Phil Jagielka as possible candidates for the team's transfer targets in January, as he has doubts over the quality of the current back four.

He added: "You look at the situation. You've got Squillaci, Koscielny, Djourou - are these good enough to go through the whole season and pick you points up. We all know goalkeepers can save you 12 points a year so can centre-halves.

"It's a very important position, they can see everything happening, they're the ones who can demand from other players. That's why they're so important.

"For me a centre-half would be great. Gary Cahill's done ever so well at Bolton, Jagielka has got better and better, people like that. I would stick to people who know the Premiership and try and bed him into the team straight away."

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea