Manchester City must elect a new club captain next season when current skipper Kevin De Bruyne leaves in the summer.
Will Kevin De Bruyne hand the permanent captain’s armband to Manchester City teammate Ruben Dias?
There was a stoppage at Everton on Saturday, shortly after half-time, when Manchester City players had to twiddle their thumbs for a few minutes.
Pep Guardiola left his players to their own devices rather than call an impromptu team talk on the touchline, and it was notable that most just wandered around Goodison Park taking in the sights. Ruben Dias had other ideas.
The centre-back called over centre-back partner Josko Gvardiol and number six Nico Gonzalez for a talk of his own, telling both where to be – potentially reacting to the imminent departure of Everton’s James Tarkowski. Anybody who has seen Dias play football throughout his career wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at the glimpse of leadership.
As Kevin De Bruyne earned an ovation from all four stands at Everton as his farewell tour continued, the captain then strolled out of the dressing room and straight to a handful of waiting journalists to tell his side of the story. De Bruyne feels he has more to give and should be staying at City, clearly still processing the fact he has to leave in a month or two.
City have decided to move on and with that means appointing a new captain. Kyle Walker feels the door is not closed on his City career but Guardiola regards him as an AC Milan player and the dressing room may take his mid-season departure into account when voting on the captain for next season.