5 captains that Arsenal have sold in 9 years

Arsenal have a history of letting their skippers leave the club, and with the recent transfer of Thomas Vermaelen to Barcelona meant that he was the fifth Arsenal captain over the period of nine years to have been sold.In this slideshow, we take a look at those five captains:

#1 Patrick Vieira

Playing years: 1996 – 2005 (279 appearances)

Patrick Vieira was named as captain for the Gunners in 2002 as a successor to long-serving captain Tony Adams who was retiring from professional football. "Taking the responsibility on my shoulders is something I relish. It will make me a better, more mature footballer and a more mature person as well,” he said after he was handed the captain’s arm band.

Vieira went on to become one of the club’s greatest players, helping them win three Premier League titles. four FA Cups and four Community Shield. However, given his improved stature in the transfer market, offers started coming in for the Senegal star. 

It was in 2005 when he ultimately moved away from the club, joining Juventus after signing a five-year contract with the Italian side at the age of 29. As Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger explained,  Vieira’s departure was utterly a move to fit then-young starlet Cesc Fabregas into the team.  "When Cesc Fàbregas was 18, 19, I would play him in a 4–4–2 with Patrick Vieira and I saw it did not work,” Wenger said. “Then I had the decision to make about letting Patrick go, because Gilberto Silva and Vieira worked, Fabregas and Silva worked, but I could not play Fàbregas and Vieira. But Fàbregas was 19 and if he did not play I knew he would want to go, so we risked destroying everything, all the work we had put into this player."