The 5 greatest captains in the Premier League era

#5 Vincent Kompany

Vincent Kompany has captained Man City to their greatest successes

Despite all of the mega-expensive players that Manchester City have brought to the Etihad since the Abu Dhabi takeover in 2008, arguably the most important signing of all arrived days before the buyout and cost just somewhere around a paltry £8m.

That man went on to captain the team and has since won two Premier League titles – and naturally, looks on course to lead them to a third. His name? Vincent Kompany.

Kompany helped City to win the first trophy of their new era – the FA Cup – in 2010/11 and it was prior to the following season that he was first named club captain.

The Belgian was integral to City’s success, playing in 31 of their 38 Premier League games and after heading the winner in the Manchester derby with two games remaining, he led them to their first Premier League trophy.

Success has followed pretty consistently for Kompany; the only knock on him that could be made is his injury record.

Despite leading City to another Premier League trophy in 2013/14 and three League Cup triumphs, his playing time has been greatly hampered since that first title-winning season. But it’s in his absence that it becomes apparent quite how good of a captain he is.

City simply never look quite as solid without Kompany in the side as they do when he’s there, and while he isn’t a chest-beater like Adams was and isn’t capable of dragging a side to victory like Gerrard was, his leadership and organisational qualities are on a level that put him up there with the Premier League’s greatest captains.

The fact that he’s practically the sole survivor from the pre-Sheikh Mansour era says it all, really.