With Sergio Busquets set to bid goodbye to Barcelona at the end of the season, his departure is set to leave a gaping hole in the team’s midfield department.
Not only that, the 34-year-old’s exit will also create a vacancy in the Blaugrana’s leadership group.
Busquets is currently the first captain at Spotify Camp Nou, with Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen following him in that specific order. The latter was made the fourth captain earlier this season after Gerard Pique’s retirement.
Now, Javi Miguel of AS is reporting that with Busquets’ spot set to become vacant, Robert Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo are in contention to become the next captain at Barcelona.
With Busquets leaving, Roberto will assume the role of the first captain, with Alba becoming the second skipper and Ter Stegen the third. And one of Lewandowski and Araujo will be the fourth captain next season.
As per the report, both Lewandowski and Araujo have the endorsement of manager Xavi Hernandez and the support of the dressing room. A vote will be taken in the pre-season to decide who will be given the armband.
If Alba also ends up leaving, a possibility that cannot be ruled out at this moment, then both Lewandowski and Araujo could become captains.
Lewandowski arrived at the club only last summer, but his experience, knowledge, and top-notch quality make him a strong contender for captaincy.
As for Araujo, even though he is much younger than Lewandowski, the centre-back has emerged as a leader on the pitch for Barcelona despite his age and relative inexperience.
There have been talks of Ousmane Dembele also being a possible candidate for the fourth captain’s role. However, when he asked to be made the captain after his contract renewal last year, it is unclear whether he was serious about it or made the comment jokingly.
Either way, a new fourth captain will be appointed at Barcelona, although if Lionel Messi ends up returning, he could straight away replace Busquets as the first captain, with the rest of the order unlikely to be tinkered with.
