Winterburn believes the Scotland international has what it takes to assume leadership role in North London.
Granit Xhaka, who was the club’s captain was stripped of the captaincy following his angry confrontation with fans in 2019, a situation which forced the-then coach Unai Emery to hand over the armband to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gabonese was not in the squad for Arsenal’s Premier League opener at Brentford last Friday and the armband was handed over to Xhaka once again.
Winterburn believes what the Switzerland international’s peccadillo is still fresh in the mind of the fans and has urged Arteta to give that particular leadership role to Tierney.
“Mikel Arteta handed Granit Xhaka the captaincy back on Friday night and obviously feels he is a player that could take that responsibility,” the 57-year-old told Paddy Power.
“Some Arsenal supporters will never forgive him, and others are already calling for Kieran Tierney to become captain. You don’t need to be massively vocal; a captain can lead by example, and Tierney is someone who does so.
“I couldn’t quite believe it myself; I was surprised to see Xhaka being given the armband back, but that probably says a lot about who else is there to step up and take it.
“For some players when you give them the captaincy, they step up. For me, the only other possible captain is Kieran Tierney. Where else could it go?”
