Per Mertesacker named new Arsenal captain…despite being sidelined for the rest of the year

Arsenal have named Per Mertesacker as their new club captain, even though the injured Germany defender may not play again this year.

The 31-year-old takes the armband from Mikel Arteta, who hung up his boots at the end of last season and quickly joined Pep Guardiola’s coaching team at Manchester City.

But, having suffered a knee injury in a friendly against Lens in pre-season, Mertesacker could be sidelined for fir first months of his new role, meaning Arsene Wenger will choose from a pool of experienced players to lead the side during the centre-back’s absence.

"Per is a very respected figure in the dressing room, is loved as well and is also a very demanding figure," Wenger told Arsenal Player.

"I think it is absolutely natural to be [him].

"[In his absence] that's where it will be taken by the assistants.

"One of them will be [Laurent] Koscielny, also [Santi] Cazorla - the experienced players - [Petr] Cech maybe.

"We will have a group of people that will take care of the energy levels and the problems of the team.

"That will be down a lot to the experienced players."

Mertesacker, who joined Arsenal from Werder Bremen in 2011, captained the side on occasions last season before he was dropped as Wenger preferred to partner Gabriel and Koscielny at the heart of his defence.

The permanent appointment of the World Cup winner is also something of a surprise after Wenger said last month that he does not expect to have Mertesacker available again until the turn of the New Year.