Thomas Vermaelen was absolutely delighted to be named the new captain of Arsenal FC.
The Belgian centre-back has replaced the departed Robin van Persie as Gunners skipper and is looking forward to bringing his own form of leadership to the forefront after being part of the leadership group last season.
"It makes me really happy and proud to be Arsenal captain - it's a real honour," wrote Vermaelen in the Official Matchday Programme for tomorrow's season opener with Sunderland.
"I won't change the way I am, though. The boss makes you captain because of the way you are, so I won't change how I am in the dressing room or outside. I want to lead by example, and do as well as I can on the pitch.
"Maybe I am not much of a talker away from the pitch, but I want to lead the team through the way I play.
"Every captain is different, everyone has his own personality and does it in his own way. Robin did it really well last year, and of course what he did on the pitch was great as well.
"But away from that he did a lot of team building, making sure the team was a real team, and I want to do things like that as well."
