To sum up just how much things have improved on and off the pitch for Arsenal in the past year, then look no further than the absence of a captaincy issue.
It's now well over 12 months since Gunners manager Mikel Arteta made the big decision to strip Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang of the armband as a punishment for another disciplinary issue before entrusting Alexandre Lacazette to skipper the side for the remainder of the 2021/22 campaign.
Of course, that was always expected to be a short-term solution and with the Frenchman being released when his contract expired at the end of the season, Arteta needed to name a replacement and did so by appointing Martin Odegaard as Arsenal's new permanent captain last summer.
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The playmaker, who is also the captain of the Norway national team, has been supported by Granit Xhaka and £45m signing Gabriel Jesus as part of the Gunners' three-man leadership group, whilst Rob Holding has worn the armband on occasions this season as one of the senior players in the squad.
Interestingly, Arteta has quietly built an impressive young leadership group at Arsenal with nine of the last 14 players he's signed all aged 23 or younger at the time of their arrival at the Emirates Stadium with the Spaniard seeing leaders in Odegaard and Albert Sambi Lokonga despite their tender years.
"I think we are building some leadership in the group," he said when speaking to the club's official website just over a year ago. "It's a really young group, with a lot of players under 23. Martin is the captain of the national team and Sambi was the captain at Anderlecht."
Furthermore, central defender William Saliba has been tipped to join the leadership group one day as some fans are of the opinion that Arteta has another future captain in the ranks after the Frenchman captained France U21s during his successful loan spell with Marseille last season.
With that said, it would appear that the Spanish tactician has another contender for the captaincy in Gabriel Magalhaes. The Brazilian, who has been at the club since joining for £27m from Lille in the summer of 2020, for the first time in his Arsenal career wore the armband during the second half of the 3-0 loss against Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon.
How this came about was after Odegaard was replaced in the 77th minute. At the same time, Jesus had come off and 17 minutes prior to this point vice-captain Xhaka was already off the pitch meaning all three members of the leadership group - and Holding - were sitting behind Arteta on the substitutes bench.
One obvious option was to give the armband to Kieran Tierney. It's not too long ago when the Scot was being tipped to become permanent captain, or even an experienced head such as Thomas Partey - who is Ghana captain - or perhaps Aaron Ramsdale who is very vocal - but the game finished with Gabriel as skipper.
This could be relevant with regard to the upcoming summer transfer window especially as Xhaka has been linked with a return to Germany to either Bayer Leverkusen or Borussia Dortmund. Should the Swizterland depart, then if Arteta's decision against Brighton is anything to go by, his replacement in the leadership group will be Gabriel Magalhaes.
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