by Nia Griffiths

Aaron Ramsey has probably warmed the hearts of Gooners everywhere by saying how happy he was to receive the captain’s armband against Boreham Wood earlier in July.

The match, which saw a mixture of senior and reserve plays, was won 2-0 by Arsenal, with the 24-year-old being named as captain. The Welshman now has designs on taking up the position full-time in the future.

Speaking recently, the midfielder said, “I’ve made a load of appearances now, I definitely feel one of the leaders, but I feel this group of players all have their own leadership skills. It was nice to be given the armband, even though it was just a preseason friendly, but it’s something I would like to do one day, to be captain.

“It’s a great honour and achievement to do that, I’ve had experience of doing it with my country, it would be nice to do that [for Arsenal] one day.”

However, Rambo also touched on the Welsh national team captaincy, which got taken away from him after a dip in form following Gary Speed’s death.

“Certain things happened, and it was a tough time for all of us,” he said. “It went downhill a bit from there, there were a couple of bad results, and there was a lot of pressure on us all.”

He continued, “That was what Chris [Coleman] decided to do. It felt like he didn’t want to put any more pressure on me, and he wanted to give it to Ashley Williams. That was his decision, I respect it and I certainly don’t hold that against him now, because there’s no point. It was definitely a disappointment but hopefully one day I can get it back.”

On his position on the pitch, the midfielder said, “I much prefer playing in the centre of the park, that’s where I feel comfortable. I like to be involved as much as I can in the game, and in the middle you’re definitely the heartbeat of the team.”

This is no secret. Rambo has spoken about his preference of the central midfield role often and he does do a fantastic job there. However, he is versatile, fit and incredibly talented, and if Arsene Wenger didn’t think he was capable of playing in a number of positions whether it’s down the wing or in a much deeper role, it’s because he knows Rambo is up to the task.