Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang leads Arsenal out for the FA Cup final vs Chelsea as club captain.
Appointed club captain on November 5, throughout the remainder of the 2019/20 season, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang did tremendously well to restore the weight that comes with wearing the armband for Arsenal, which was lost during the 2010s.
Skipper for 14 years straight, Tony Adams set the tone for what is to be expected of a captain at Arsenal. Under George Graham, Bruce Rioch and Arsene Wenger, he never strayed from the more blatant responsibilities of organizing his team on a match-day, while continuing to lay down the foundations off the pitch to ensure the high standards demanded by the club, it's players and staff never dropped.
Although he held the armband until 2002, this bred a dressing room full of captains so that when Patrick Vieira took over that summer and Thierry Henry in the summer of 2005, the culture built in the 1980s and 90s remained, and the transitions to already-respected figures appeared seamless.
Once the core of that squad evaporated in the mid 2000s, however, the Arsenal captain's armband became more like the Elder Wand, ready to be flung to it's next owner after an unfortunate turn of events meant it's then-current holder was no longer suitable for the role.
As the first three post-Henry captains, William Gallas, Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie's tenures all came to distasteful ends.
Gallas kept causing issues after his infamous Birmingham City outburst and handed the armband to a 21-year-old Fabregas following an interview revealing dressing room turmoil in 2008. The midfielder deciding against playing to force a move to Barcelona in 2011 left a sour taste in the mouth when he parted ways, as did van Persie choosing to head to Manchester United when he was needed most just a year later.
Following the issues surrounding this trio, the problem with Arsenal captains was that they were hardly available to play rather than their off-field actions. Through no fault of their own, Thomas Vermaelen, Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker became more over-ruling captain figures while their vice-captains were bigger presences on the pitch. As a result, a joint-FA Cup lift wasn't an unfamiliar sight at Wembley from 2014 to 2017.
2019 brought more chaos as the club's longest-serving player and captain at the time, Laurent Koscielny, demanded the final year of his contract was terminated to force a move to Bordeaux, as revealed by football.london on July 11 2019. Then came Unai Emery's talk of having five captains, until the players chose Granit Xhaka as their new leader.
Despite being popular in the dressing room, the midfielder undid this with when he reacted by goading and swearing at Arsenal fans at the Emirates upon being jeered when substituted against Crystal Palace on October 27. Nine days later and enter the new Gunners captain, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
It may have taken Emery two attempts but he finally made the right choice and that was only enhanced when arguably Arsenal's most respected captain of the decade returned as head coach the following month.
For too often, the Arsenal captaincy lacked an owner that oozed consistency, control an ability to lead by example both with their actions on and off the pitch - qualities Aubameyang displayed week in week out before and after being given the piece of fabric which officially made him the squad's leader.
Scoring 70 goals in 109 games [in all competitions] for Arsenal, while mostly playing off the left, there was never a doubt as to whether the 31-year-old would perform on a consistent basis.
Especially under Arteta, however, he has exceeded expectations in regard to leading by example with what he offers beyond goals. Playing an active role in the side's high press, he is effective in the first line of defence but has also shown exceptional application to track back and help his left-back in defence when needed. This specific development was evident in games against Chelsea, Everton and Watford but is even more clear in his heat map since the change of head coach.
As well as keeping up an incredible goalscoring record, his aerial prowess was finally taken advantage of. Despite standing at 6ft2ins, Aubameyang's only headed goals [three] have come under Arteta, setting yet another example to his team-mates of how they can improve even when considered the best player of the bunch.
Having the humility to match his self-confidence and self-awareness has been key to the 31-year-old's seamless step up to becoming captain.
This has been evident before he took the armband, when giving Alexandre Lacazette that penalty against Stoke in April 2018, or when advising Bukayo Saka to shoot if he got the chance away at Frankfurt this season, but as captain, it's interactions like these and when he put the spotlight on Emi Martinez after winning the FA Cup that go that much further in cementing himself as a worthy figurehead for the side.
What's equally encouraging in this sense is that this type of behavior isn't just limited to his team-mates in the first team but youngsters coming through the academy too.
"Lacazette and Aubameyang have been especially welcoming to me," Tyreece John-Jules told Arsenal's match-day programme in December. "The more you talk to them, the more you realise they’re just like you. The only different is that they’ve been doing it on the biggest stage.”
"One of the things they’ve stressed to me is that you should always be confident and always believe in yourself. It sounds like basic advice, but it’s far easier said than done. They’ve told me that whenever an idea comes into my mind in training that I should just try it.
"They’ve also told me that I should always be staying behind after training to practice my finishing. They still do it, too.
Becoming such an all-encompassing figure at Arsenal since arriving in January 2018, Aubameyang becoming captain one day as the club's No.14. felt like a natural progression, and he has ticked every box necessary to regain fans' faith in the role after years of disarray.
One accusation held to the forward was that he didn't perform in big games but with four goals in two tremendous overall performances in the FA Cup semi-final and final last season, those arguments were dispelled.
Now, expected to sign a three-year contract extension with the club, as revealed by football.london on August 10, Aubameyang is on the brink of returning much-needed importance and weight to the captain's armband at Arsenal.
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