Everton have won just one Premier League game since Marco Silva was appointed as the new manager at Goodison Park.
The importance of who wears the captain’s armband is perhaps a little overstated in the modern game, particularly in an era where homegrown heroes are increasingly rare and most teams have a number of leaders both on and off the pitch.
But Marco Silva’s decision to field five different captains in just seven games in charge of Everton has still raised eyebrows.
After Gylfi Sigurdsson led the side out in the 3-1 home defeat against West Ham United, 20-year-old Tom Davies was handed the armband for the clash with Arsenal on Sunday.
And Kevin Ratcliffe, who himself was named Everton skipper at the age of just 23, has told the Liverpool Echo that he is far from convinced by Marco Silva’s approach to captaincy.
“I honestly don’t know what Marco Silva’s thinking. For me, the Everton captain has to be a player who is likely to be in the starting XI week-in week-out,” Ratcliffe, who represented the Toffees between 1980 and 1992, told the Liverpool Echo.
“I would have thought that Gylfi Sigurdsson, who was captain the previous week against West Ham, would be the likeliest of the two (with Davies) to feature more regularly. He is the only player to have started every single match this season – while Tom Davies has been in and out.
“Is Marco Silva testing people out to see if they are good enough for the responsibility of the Everton captaincy? At the moment I just don’t understand the thinking around who leads the team out.”
Everton host Fulham at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon and it will be interesting to see who has the armband for that clash.
In defence of Silva, there are few obvious full-time candidates for the captain’s position at Everton right now, with Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines both out of the starting XI. As a result it perhaps makes sense to consider a range of options.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
