ANGE Postecoglou believes stripping Adrian Leijer of the Melbourne Victory captaincy will help him become a better player.

The coach confirmed that Leijer wouldn’t lead Victory this season and revealed the player was gutted when informed of the news, but emphasised that the 27-year-old remained central to his plans.



While Leigh Broxham has worn the armband in preseason Mark Milligan is favourite to be appointed after Victory managed to retain him despite interest from Premier League club Crystal Palace.



Leijer has led Victory since the retirement of Kevin Muscat but it coincided with the most turbulent time in the club’s short history playing under four coaches in 31 months.



"He was disappointed, anyone would be. But that’s my call, I need to make decisions and sometimes you need to make decisions that disappoint players but the flip side of that is the way he played against Liverpool and in the friendlies is exactly where I want him to be," Postecoglou said.



"Whenever you have a season like last year where we didn’t reach our target (winning the title) we looked at a whole range of things and one of them was leadership and how we can get better in that role.



"More important is that I really want Ado to play his best football this year and I think he can. I rate him highly, I’ve known him and coached him since he was a teenager.



"He’s had two seasons which have been very tough for him because physically he hasn’t been where he wants to be and as I said to him in preseason I want this year to be the best of his career and to help him do that I don’t want him thinking about anything else other than playing his best.



"He’s always going to be a leader around the club because he’s been there since day one and I think the boys respect him because of that and I don’t think he needs the extra responsibility this year."



Postecoglou said he hadn’t made his mind up yet but with Milligan and Archie Thompson back from Socceroos duty an announcement was imminent.



"I haven’t decided on that yet, we’ve given Leigh the armband and he’s the next most experienced and obviously Millsy comes into the frame," he said.



"I’ll sit down with everyone when they’re in, we haven’t had everyone in for the last few weeks. I’ve got an idea of how I want to frame it and it’ll be a decision that hopefully will help us be a better club and whoever does get the captaincy, helps them be a better player."

Originally published as Milligan favourite to captain Victory