Pep Guardiola will let players pick their own captain if Vincent Kompany is injured

He may not trust his players with a pepperoni pizza in front of them but Pep Guardiola has nothing but faith in his new charges' ability to pick a leader.

Vincent Kompany could well miss the start of the season as he is not yet fully fit and, if that is the case, Guardiola is refusing to pick a stand-in captain. Instead, the new Manchester City manager has decided to let his new players make the call on who they want to lead them out for their Premier League opener. "It's for the players to decide, they have to choose the captain," said Guardiola. "I am not in the locker-room, the dressing-room, or their own meetings when they have to change something. They have to choose for themselves the best guy to represent them.

"We've only been together a few weeks or a month and they know each other better than me. It's their responsibility."

City get their campaign underway at home to Sunderland on August 13 and Guardiola claims that he is not worried about any potential lack of reliable vice-captains as there are a number of experienced players at his disposal.

"Vincent won't play for two reasons: either because he's injured, which has happened to Vincent Kompany in the last two seasons, or because of my decision," Guardiola continued.

"It's not a big problem. I think there a lot of experienced people who can do it – Joe Hart, Yaya Toure, Pablo Zabaleta as well. Kun Aguero has been here a long time. So they have to decide who is the real captain for them."