5 players who should never have been made captain

#4 Thomas Vermaelen - Arsenal

Thomas Vermaelen was never able to shake off the injury curse at Arsenal – and now at FC Barcelona

Now at FC Barcelona after moving in 2014, Thomas Vermaelen could have been the next great captain for the Gunners after Tony Adams. Leadership skills came naturally to the Belgian and the role came completely naturally to him to the extent that his teammates accepted his elevated status without question.

Vermaelen’s problem was that he was injured far too often to build up a head of steam in the captain’s role. No sooner had he laid a marker down for his expectations than he was ruled out for long periods of time.

Now injured again at Barcelona, the second time since his transfer, one has to question the validity of Vermaelen’s medical, given that Barca appeared to have signed him without his physical condition being fully assessed and signed off.

He has spent more time on the treatment table than he did leading the Gunners. That can’t be right, can it?

Thomas Vermaelen suffered an injury during Barcelona’s match against Atletico Madrid (image courtesy Marca)