Vincent Kompany will be patient while selecting his new Burnley captain

Ben Mee wore the armband on a permanent basis for the last three years, after the sale of Tom Heaton to Aston Villa in 2019 – having deputised for the England keeper in 2017-18 while he was out with a dislocated shoulder – and led by example on and off the pitch.

And in terms of a replacement, there are options, with Jack Cork leading the side in pre-season, while fellow midfielder Josh Brownhill was named skipper at Bristol City aged just 23, before joining the Clarets in January 2020.

Brownhill will be the first player to face the media before Friday night’s opener at Huddersfield Town, if that is any indicator, but boss Kompany, speaking at a special ‘Audience with...’ event at Burnley College, along with chairman Alan Pace, on Tuesday afternoon, insists he will be patient before naming the leader of the side long term, having almost made the wrong decision at former club Anderlecht, before naming goalkeeper, and vice-captain, Hendrik Van Crombrugge as his captain in August 2020.

Asked who the new captain will be, Kompany said: “We'll see!

"I have many captains, some older, experienced guys – I talk to all of them because it's really important.

"But because I've been a captain for a while myself, and I nearly made a very big mistake when I was first a manager, I nearly gave the captaincy based on the first couple of weeks to a guy that I know I would have regretted for the rest of my life, so I've decided to take my time, see how the lads react in bad times – you have to have a couple of bad moments before you know who the real leaders are.

"So we'll take our time, and in the meantime, the armband is one thing you can give on the pitch, but for it to mean something, you have to take your time and pick up the real leader, so it means the same to the group as it does to us.”