Man City have four candidates for captaincy after Fernandinho's departure

Fernandinho’s departure from Manchester City will hit the club hard for a number of reasons, but his leadership is something they will have to find elsewhere next season.

Ever since Pep Guardiola’s arrival at the Etihad Stadium, the City boss has left the choice of captain up to the players. Five normally form the leadership group, but one is voted permanent club captain by his peers. For nearly a decade, Vincent Kompany led City to multiple honours and his status in the dressing room will perhaps never be matched. When the Belgian left in 2019, David Silva took the armband for his final season at the club, with Fernandinho carrying that responsibility for the last two years.

Now, with the Brazilian bidding a fond farewell to Manchester, the players will have to appoint a new captain – and there are a few contenders for the role.

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Ilkay Gundogan

It has been a crazy month in the life of City’s goalscoring German. He was strongly linked with a move away from the club a week before the seasons conclusion, but it was soon revealed he and his partner had flown to Italy to get married.

Days later, Gundogan came off the bench midway through the second half against Aston Villa on the final day of the season to spark an unbelievable final-day comeback. Falling 2-0 down and knowing only a win secured City a sixth Premier League title, the midfielder scored a brace – either side of Rodri’s side-footed strike – to win the game in five crazy minutes.

Gundogan is seen as the unofficial vice-captain at City, with the 31-year-old regularly donning the armband in Fernandinho’s absence this season. The most natural move – in what could be his final City season –