Mikel Arteta new Arsenal captain: Arsene Wenger confirms midfielder as new captain after Thomas Vermaelen leaves
Spanish midfielder takes the armband from Thomas Vermaelen
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Mikel Arteta has been confirmed as Arsenal's new captain by Gunners' manager Arsene Wenger.
Arteta has been promoted from vice-captain to replace Thomas Vermaelen, who joined Barcelona for £15m yesterday.
Per Mertesacker, the towering German defender, has been named as Arsenal's vice-captain.
The 32-year-old, who was signed from Everton for £10 in August 2011, said after the Gunners' 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City today:
"This is another trophy for us and that is important for Arsenal because we had a long spell without trophies," he said.
"It was a good test to see where we are ahead of the start of the Premier League and we had some points in the game where we looked really good.
"We were facing the champions and in some of the games last season against the top teams, we did not perform well.
"Today was a good opportunity to put that right and we have shown here that we can compete again."
He added: "We want to progress from where we were last season, we want to continue winning things and to start the season like this can only boost the confidence, that we are going in the right direction."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments