Mikel Arteta desperate to end Arsenal's captaincy curse with Odegaard in pole position for armband

Mikel Arteta is determined to break the curse of the Arsenal captaincy after years of circus surrounding the armband.

The manager has yet to name his skipper for this season, though Martin Odegaard is expected to resume the role he took up towards the end of last season.

Arteta wants both a captain and a senior group that will bring ‘really strong leadership’ to the club after a string of controversies involving previous skippers.

‘It’s been a topic that has been discussed a lot, especially externally, and that didn’t help,’ Arteta said. ‘Obviously it’s not been very consistent and with a lot of behavioural problems within those groups. That is something we want to resolve, do it naturally and bring a really strong leadership within the team.’

Arteta’s predecessor Unai Emery named five captains in 2019 following a secret squad vote. They included Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who were both exiled before their departure, while Granit Xhaka lost the captaincy following a furious confrontation with supporters.

Of the other two, Alexandre Lacazette has already gone, while Hector Bellerin looks likely to leave, too.

Even before then, the armband was considered a curse among some supporters after Laurent Koscielny, Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Thierry Henry all left while in charge.

‘I’m very clear how I want it. The manager (Emery) has his own way. I’ve seen extremely successful teams run and led on that kind of vote and I’ve seen others that they haven’t been so good,’ Arteta said. ‘It depends much more on the personalities and the human qualities you have.’

The manager added: ‘For me, the most important thing is that the other people – whether it’s coaches, staff members or players – when you talk, they listen to you. You don’t have to be talking all the time…the most important quality (is) you have to be able to transmit your thoughts and ideas in a powerful way. So you’re able to inspire people and get people behind you.’

Arteta still considers the role to be ‘very important’ and he wants his leaders to be ‘pro-active’ with ideas about ‘the way they want to live, the way they want to interact with each other and how we want to be perceived as a team.’

He added: ‘They have the freedom to do that. And they have the discipline after to do what they said they want to do.’

The manager said a decision will be made after seeing how his new and returning players integrate during pre-season.

Odegaard captained Arsenal in their first match of this US tour against Everton and Arteta added: ‘Martin has a lot of qualities that we want as a captain… one of them is that he thinks about the team before himself.

'He had a period at the start where he wasn't playing, he was the first in training, the last to leave, asking the right questions - why he wasn't playing, what he had to do - he was always listening, he was always helping his teammates. His attitude was absolutely phenomenal.’

Meanwhile, Oleksandr Zinchenko is deliberating his future this week after Arsenal agreed a fee in the region of £35million with Manchester City.

Zinchenko, who is expected to leave, is on City’s pre-season tour in Texas and has a major decision to make on his future.

City – who identified Marc Cucurella as their preferred target as a replacement – are not planning to sign a left back should Zinchenko choose to stay.

Stuttgart’s Borna Sosa is on their list of alternative options to Cucurella if Brighton demand too much money for the Spaniard.