Arsenal urged to make January signing that would solve long-term problem

Arsenal are lacking a leader in their squad and should go out and buy one, according to former England full-back Danny Mills.

Granit Xhaka was this week stripped of the Arsenal captaincy following the incident in the 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace last month.

Top-scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been appointed the club’s new skipper.

But Mills says it is clear there are not enough leaders in the squad and reckons that must be solved in the transfer market.

“They don’t have the right characters and I think they’re scrambling around at the moment and that’s why maybe they went to the players in the first place [to choose the captain] because [Unai] Emery looked around and thought ‘I don’t have one’,” Mills told talkSPORT.

“Maybe he should have bought one, maybe that should have been part of his remit. We’ve all known that they’re lacking a holding-midfield player and they’ve been lacking centre-halves for some time.

“They’re ideal captains, they’re going to play week in, week out.

“Look at what Virgil van Dijk is – at Liverpool he would be the ideal captain wouldn’t he? If it wasn’t [James] Milner or [Jordan] Henderson, whoever it would be.