De Bruyne, Dias, Walker - who should replace Gundogan as Man City's next captain

Manchester City will once again need to name a new captain this year.

Ilkay Gundogan will become the latest City skipper to leave on a free following the departures of Fernandinho, David Silva and Vincent Kompany over the last four years. The German is set to leave the club upon the expiration of his contract and will become the third successive captain to hold the armband for just a year.

The German was crucial to City's treble triumph and Pep Guardiola was desperate to see him stay but he wanted a longer extension than the club offered. MEN Sport reported this week that City made a late attempt to keep Gundogan with an improved length of contract, but it is now understood he is set to join Barcelona.

It means City's stars will once again have to vote on a new leader but thankfully the club has a strong leadership group with plenty of candidates capable of taking on the responsibility. We've asked MEN Sport writers who they believe should be the next captain.

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City are in the luxurious position of the captaincy issue not being important because they have so many leaders in the team. Ilkay Gundogan captained them to three trophies last year yet Ruben Dias gave the speech before the FA Cup final and Kyle Walker did before the Champions League final.

Going off how City have appointed captains in recent years, Kevin De Bruyne is the obvious option. He is good enough to start most games and is the most senior player in the squad having been there longer than anyone else. However, with the players voting at the start of the season he could lose out to Dias, Walker, or Rodri if his hamstring injury sees him sidelined for pre-season.

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